NEW SOVIET AFGHAN BASES SEEN AS PERIL TO GULF

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP83T00966R000100090007-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 5, 2007
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: November 15, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 20071,04105: CIA-RDP83T00966R000100090007-5
TRANSMITTAL SLIP
DATE
15 Nov 82
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A/NIO/GPF
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2E49
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REMARKS:
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FROM:
Harry Rowen, C/NIC
ROOM
762
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THE NEW YORK IMES, S
New Soviet Afghan Bases. Sgent as Peril to .Gulf
By RICHARD HALLORAN
Speed tO ThS New York ThnS.
WA.SHINGTON, Nov. 13 -' United
States military analysts and Middle
Eastern diplomats say the Soviet Union
has nearly completed six airfields In
southern Afghanistan that will put the
Persian Gulf within range of Soviet jet
-fighters.
The officials said the airfield con-
struction underscored a vitally imnnr.
tant addition to the mission of Soviet
-forces in Afghanistan. When the Soviet
Union intervened militarily in 1979,
Soviet diplomats here said the move
was intended only to insure the survival
of an
Moscow Government amenable to
Today, United States officials said,
the Soviet Union appears intent on turn.
ing Afghanistan into a forward base for
Soviet military forces, particularly air
force units, on the eastern flank of the
oilfields around the Persian Gulf.
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, Gen. John W. Vessey Jr., told re-
porters on Friday that the United States
would watch Soviet moves in Afghani.
stan "for the first-Indication of a change
in Soviet policy" under the new Soviet
leader, Yuri V. Andropov.
He saidra withdrawal of the 100,000
Soviet troops from Afghanistan "would
certainly be a good sign for them to
make to the rest of the world."
But General Vessey said the'Soviet
Union had given every indication that
the nature. of the intervention in Af-
ghanistan had changed and that Soviet'
forces were settling in for a long occu..
pation.
The general did not mention the new
Soviet airfields. But other officials and
diplomats said the bases would present
at least two new dangers.
One would be a threat from Soviet
fighter-bombers to the oilfields and
shipping installations around the Per-
sian Gulf and to oil tankers passing
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7NDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1982
from the gulp through the Strait of Hor-
muz into the Arabian Sea:..
The second would be to create more
problems for the Rapid Deployment
Force that is scheduled to become a
full-fledged, unified military command
on Jam 1.
.Until recently the force has concen-.
trated on plans for blocking a possible
Soviet invasion from the north. Now it
must take into. account a new danger
from the east.
In time of conflict,. fighters and fight-
er-bombers from the dispersed Soviet
airfields in Aghanistan would constitute
a new threat to United States air, sea,
and ground operations. Countering that
threat would probably take more air
wings than the 10 currently planned.
The United States has no air bases in
that region, and prospects for gaining
access to any are limited, officials said.
The Navy now has an aircraft carrier in
the Indian Ocean with up to 100 planes
aboard. In a crisis,.two more carriers
would probably be deployed.
The , Reagan . Administration has
given high priority to gaining access to
air bases in Turkey, an American ally
in the North Atlantic Treaty Organiz-
tion, and recently reached an agree-
ment under which the United States
would improve about 10 bases and have
access to them for training:
Military planners have said they hope
American warplanes will be able to use
those bases to fly interdiction missions
against Soviet forces in the event of an
invasion of Iran. But they have ac-
knowledged that the Turkish Govern-
ment has shown little enthusiasm for
the proposal.
The planners have also indicated they
hope Saudi Arabia or Oman will permit
American aircraft to use bases in those
countries in time of conflict, but they
acknowledge much resistance to the
idea by the two Government. '
An early indication of the Soviet mili-
tary expansion in Afghanistan came
last July from an insurgent Afghan
leader, Hassan Gailani, of the National
Islamic Front, who said the Soviet
Union has begun building an airbase in
Shindand, in western Afghanistan.
Mr. Gallant also reported that Soviet
forces had enlarged the storage depot at
their base in Kandahar in southern Af-
ghanistan. The new bases, which offi-
cials here would not pinpoint, were said
to be strung out mostly between Kanda-
har and Shindand.