11.  Bin Laden originally rose to prominence because his inherited fortune allowed him to bankroll Arab volunteers fighting Soviet forces in Afghanistan.

12.  But German troops held Soviet forces at bay east of the city.

13.  During their decadelong occupation of Afghanistan, Soviet forces never conquered the valley.

14.  Eliska, we eventually learn, had crawled unhurt from a pile of massacre victims left by Soviet forces pursuing the Germans.

15.  He actually spent the first years of the war between Soviet forces and Afghan guerrillas traveling throughout the Persian Gulf raising money for the jihad against the Soviets.

16.  Hekmatyar was a central figure among the mujahedeen backed by Pakistan in their fight to expel Soviet forces from Afghanistan.

17.  However, in Sakhalin, as elsewhere, the advancing Soviet forces and confusion that followed the end of the war led to tragic separations of families.

18.  In the decade that Soviet forces were here, Sar Cheshma became a stronghold for the Muslim guerrillas who ultimately drove out the Soviet troops.

19.  Instead, the Finns fought the overwhelmingly superior Soviet forces to a virtual standstill for four months, inflicting severe casualties on the invaders.

20.  Japan has claimed sovereignty over the southern Kuriles ever since Soviet forces captured them in the final days of World War II.