On September 21, 2017, the Public Opinion Research Institute held a presentation of the book "Memory from the Flames of Afghanistan: Interviews with Internationalist Warriors of the Afghan War of 1979-1989". The three-volume edition, edited by Marlene Laruelle, Botagoz Rakisheva, Gulden Ashkenova, is the result of three years of work by an international group of researchers from the USA, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan on the project "The Afghan War of 1979-1989. through the eyes of witnesses (Oral history)". The project was carried out by the Public Opinion Research Institute (Astana, Kazakhstan) and included conducting an oral history interview with internationalist warriors, participants in the war in Afghanistan and preparing a documentary movie.

Project Leaders – Marlene Laruelle, Ph.D (USA-France) and Botagoz Rakisheva, PhD in Sociological Sciences (Kazakhstan).

The main objective of the project was to collect information about the Afghan war from its direct participants to preserve historical memory.

In total, 20 interviews were conducted in Uzbekistan, 31 interviews in Tajikistan, 21 interviews in Kazakhstan. The book uses photographs and documents from the private archives of internationalist warriors. The book was published by the Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

At the presentation, the documentary film "Memory from the Flames of Afghanistan", shot during the project "The Afghan War of 1979-1989through the eyes of witnesses (Oral history)" was shown.

The presentation was attended by internationalist warriors, including project participants.