This photograph was produced in the winter of 1986 during the conflict between the Soviet Union and Afghanistan, when 13 members of a Soviet Red Army reconnaissance unit were ambushed by Afghan guerrilla forces near Mogor, Afghanistan.

This photograph was made in the winter of 1986 during the Soviet-Afghanistan conflict, and depicts 13 members of a Soviet Red Army reconnaissance unit being ambushed by Afghan guerrilla forces near Moghul, Afghanistan.

　　 In the Soviet-Afghan conflict of the 1980s (April 1978 - April 1992), recently slain Russian Red Army soldiers and others made an impossible comeback to life, eerily masquerading as a dialogue between the dead and others. It was a brutal reflection of what war is really like.

　During the Soviet-Afghan war in the winter of 1986, the mujahidin attacked a Soviet patrol near Mogor. The mujahidin were killed in the line of duty in the Islamic holy war (jihad). In the inhospitable Afghan desert, 13 Soviet Red Army soldiers masqueraded their resurrection from the dead. Bloody, dismembered body parts were shown.

　One Russian soldier showed his wounds to another. Three of the slain mujahidin were shown on the battlefield. One of the mujahidin was inspecting the contents of a bag, while the other two were collecting weapons and ammunition from the dead Soviet Red Army soldiers. A Soviet Red Army recruit playfully piggybacked one of his comrades, while a third dangled a piece of meat in front of him.

　Digital photographs were used by Jeff Wall to create "Dead Troops Talk" in 1992. As of 2020, this photograph was the highest-priced by Wall, having sold for $3,666,500 at Christie's in New York City on May 8, 2012.