Afghan Rebels Take Road With Us Missiles
Sydney Morning Herald
Wednesday January 27, 1988
ISLAMABAD, Tuesday: Mujahideen rebels armed with US-made Stinger missiles have regained control of the strategic Gardez-Khost highway in Afghanistan's eastern Paktia province, Western and rebel sources here say.
Dr Xavier de la Cochetiere, a doctor working with the French humanitarian group Medecins sans Frontieres, and who has just back from the area, reported heavy fighting there.
He said that the rebel Islamic National Front had seized control of about 3 kilometres of the road last Thursday near the village of Allaudin, and advanced several kilometres by Sunday.
Guerilla commander Jalaluddin Haqqani of the Hezb-i-Islami said on Monday that the rebels had forced Soviet-Afghan troops back from the road on Friday, but gave no further details.
Dr De la Cochetiere, just back from the Zadran Valley, halfway along the 120 kilometre highway, said Government troops were hitting rebel positions with high-altitude SU-25 bombers and ground-to-ground BM-41 missiles.
"At night, aircraft bomb all lit areas, but most of the villages are deserted," he said. Many rebel families having sought refuge in Pakistan.
Islamic National Front rebels in the Zadran area, under the command of Haji Abdul Kharman, are armed with US-made ground-to-air Stinger missiles.
"They fired 16 during the past three months, and shot down 11 planes and one helicopter," the Islamic rebel said.
"Combat conditions are difficult," Dr de la Cochetiere added. "There is 20 centimetres of snow on the ground, and the temperature at night is 10 degrees Celsius below zero.
"The rebels took their families to Pakistan and then returned," he said. "The rebel tribesmen have rallied again, and are fighting."
Afghanistan's state-run Radio Kabul said on Sunday that the Government had decided to withdraw its troops from the road less than a month after Soviet-Afghan forces broke an eight-year rebel siege of Khost.
The radio said the decision was taken after pro-Government Zadran Valley tribes said they would keep the road safe. The Khost garrison had now been adequately resupplied and there were no food shortages, it said.
Western diplomats here said it would have been costly and risky for the largely Soviet force guarding the road to stay there throughout the winter.
They noted that Soviet and Afghan troops had conducted similar withdrawals in the past after resupplying isolated garrisons.
© 1988 Sydney Morning Herald