AFGHANISTAN: RESISTANCE SUPPORT TO THE LOCAL POPULATION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP85T01058R000406270001-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 28, 2010
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: April 29, 1985
• Content Type: REPORT

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/01/28: CIA-RDP85T01058R000406270001-7 --~
S~urc..e5
Central Intelligence Agency
Washinv,,ton. D C.20S05
DIRECTORATE OF INTELLIGENCE
. 29 April 1985
Afghanistan: Resistance ~u~port to the Local Population
Summary
Some insurgent groups in Afghanistan have attempted to
retain and build support from the local population in their
areas of operation by supporting food production and
distribut~i?on system, operating schools, providing medical
and other services, and even organizing local governments.
,The groups who provide the most in the way of such services
appear to be those with ethnic or other established ties in
their areas, and who have organized a base of civilian
suRport.
~. -.
3
Food Production and Distribution
The local population is the primary source of food for the insurgents.
Some commanders, for example Panjsher Valley commander Ahmad Shah ;?lasood, pay
the locals for food supplies; others promise to pay. Some groups, however,
steal food from villa ers and some even destroy crops of farmers who do not
support them. 25X1
This memorandum ~.~as prepared by the Office
of Near Eastern and South Asian Analysis with a contribution frog
the Office of year Eastern and South Asian 25X1
welcome and may be addressed to the Chief, South Asia Division,
Analysis. It ~:~as coordinated with the Office of Soviet Analysis
and the Directorate of Operations. Information as of 29 Aaril
1985 was used in its preparation. Comments and queries are
State Dept. review completed
NESA M 85
10090
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6, 5
Some insurgent groups are trying to increase food production, mainly to
ensure their own supply, but in the process are providing local farmers ~:rith
security and services. Insurgents have assisted farmers--particularly in 25X1
A representative from the Mahaz-i-~riilli-Islami resistance organization
told the US Consul in Peshawar in August of 1984 that his group had set uo an
Afghan Food Supply Organization in Quetta. The organization tugs planning to
cultivate 15,000 hectares in northern Helmand Province controlled by the
resistance. Private western donor~'~sent two tractors and 500 kilograms of
seed to Pakistan for the project. 25X1
to return and farm their land when the ~.veather was favorable.
4Jardak and Qandahar Provinces--by helping repair canals and planting and
harvesting crops. Local commanders have also encouraged refugees in Pakistan
Medical Care
We believe. that incur ent medical services focus on treating wounded
fighters. despite the increase in Afghans no~+ 25X1
-
foreign doctors provide the services--and sometimes even then.
medically trained, few have treated civilians. Care is primitive except ?.vhen
... 7......., .., ...,.,r.,. .. .,.... ~~.. a, nw~~ vi ~.nrvur arc r r cni,ir Vr UI.rICr
foreigners, and provide security and a place to practice, particularly to the
eastern provinces and 6Jardak Province. Foreign doctors in Afghanistan are
most concerned with treating the civilian population, training Afghan nurses
~ and first `aY d workers, and bringing serum to inoculate children against
tuberculosis and measles:
-- The director of the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan, ~:rhich funds some
medical work in Afghanistan, told the US Embassy in 1923 that it had
set up nine mobile clinics, eight in the eastern provinces.
-- ~~ledecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), a French-run medical organization,
operates primarily in northeastern Afghanistan in Laghman, Badakhshan,
Balkh, and Paktia Provinces.
-- In Herat City, insurgents operate three clinics vrith 35 beds and a staff
of 19 trained medical personnel, and a training facility ~;rhere doctors
teach first aid. 25X1
The number of European doctors inside Afghanistan has declined in recent
years. MSF ceased operations in the Hazarehjat because the insurgents ?;rho had
been hired to protect the doctors extorted money, commandeered vehicles, and
insisted that insurgents be treated before civilians,
i~1SF prer"ers to provide service in northern A g ants an because the
~ox~i
Still, insurgents are receiving increasing medical training. Red Cross 25X1
officials told US diplomats that 1,250 Afghans took a one-day first aid
course, and 79 took a four-;reek paramedic course between October 1934 and
February 1985; 20 Afghan paramedics recently completed a one-year course,
- 25X1
area's insurgent groups are less prone to infighting than the insurgents .n
Several Afghans learned surgical procedures from 25X1
in the Panjsher Valley and treated insurgents and civilians
after a Soviet offensive drove the doctors out of the valley.
2 25X1
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Education
The insurgents have established schools, mostly for religious training.
Most Afghans distrust nonreligious education vie~vin it t' t
as
g
corrup ing o
their young and teaching concepts contrary to local tradition:
-- The Jamiat has about 30 schools that teach reading and religion and
indoctrinate children in antiregime and pro-Jamiat propaganda near the
city of Balkh.
1~,~-7. -- Herat Province insurgent councils, under the leadership of Jamiat
commander Ismail Khan, run ~~ehools in their areas.
~ ~-- A French official reported observing resistance schools in the
Hazarehjat, Mazar-e Sharif, and Laghman, Paktia and-Badakshan
Provinces.
The schools, run by local mullahs, lack instructional materials.
Media
insurgents claims it publishes a newspaper in Baghlan Province featuring
general news, insurgent operations, and criticism of the Afghan regime.
Insurgents have increased their use of media for propaganda and
entertainment, but their efforts are still small. Three clandestine radios
broadcast criticism of Soviet and Afghan regime policy, and the resistance
also distributes cassette recordings, tapes 25X1
distributec~?by Panjsher insurgents are popular, but scarce. One group of
Other Services
In some areas the insurgents have worked with the population to establish
local governments. Jamiat-i-Islami commanders have successfully established
local governments in at least three regions:
-- The Tajiks of the Panjsher Valley under ?-lasood created a functioning
local government by 1982, despite intense Soviet military pressure, gut
the population evacuated the area prior to the 1984 spring Soviet
offensive and has not returned.
-- Zabiullah Khan established "commands" in Balkh Province ~.vith
responsibilities for education, health, and political affairs. -~e also
helped resettle villagers forced from their homes by Soviet and repine
military operations.
-- Ismail khan heads a Provincial Council that addresses financial,
religious, agricultural, and medical issues in Herat Province. 25X1
Groups in several areas collect taxes to support the insurgency. Scne
~ taxes are levied quasi-officially by the insurgent governments; others are
t exacted as an insurgent group moves through an area. Villa es sometimes
complain they are taxed by more than one insurgent group. 25X1
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Islami Gulbuddin faction) ~r~ere tax
have severely restricted the area eoa1trolled by the Council.
the Harakat-i-Ingilab-i-Islami and Hizbi 25X1
i ng f ami 1 i es with sons ':rho worked abroad .
25X1
The most fully developed local government was a council of tribal leaders
headed by Syed Ali Beheshti, which operated in the Hazara area of central
Afghanistan from 1979 to 1984. It collected taxes, administered justice,
maintained the Hazara military force, and attzmpted to conduct foreign
policy. The Hazaras, Mongol Shias in a predominantly Caucasian Sunni country,
had long resented their second-class status in Afghanistan. Recent aggressive
actions by militant pro-Iranian groups (Sazman-i-Nasr and Sepah-e Pasdaran)
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SUBJECT: Afghanistan: Resistance Support to the Local Population
NESA M 85-10090
Distribution:
Internal
Orig-- C/SO/P
1 - DDI
1 - DDI/PES
1 - NIO/NESA
1-
1-
C/DDO/NE
1 - OCR/ISG
1 - D/NESA
1 - C/fJESA/SO
1 - C/BONA/T;dAD
1 - NESA/SO/P
1 - NESA/SO/P/Typescript. File
DDI/NESA/SO~P~
(29 April 1985) 25X1
5
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SUBJECT: Afghanistan: Resistance Support to the Local Population
NESA M 85-10090
Distribution:
External
1 - Tt~e Honorable Michael N. Armacost (State)
1 - Lt. General John T. Chain, Jr., USAF (State)
1 - Mr. Peter Rodman (State)
1 - The Honorable Richard L. Armitage (DOD)
1 - The Honorable Richard Perle (DOD)
1 - The Director NSA
1 - Mr. James Covey (NSC)
1 - The Honorable Richard h1urphy (State)
1 - Ms. Phyllis Oakley (State)
1 - Mr. Herbert G. Hagerty (State)
1 - Mr. George S. Harris (State)
1 - Mr. Ron wart (DOD)
1
- Mr.
Kenneth E. DeGraffenreid (NSC)
1
- Mr.
George Van Eron (NSC)
1
- Mr.
Fred Ikle (Pentagon)'
1
- Mr.
Henry Myers (State)
1
- Mr.
Robert Dean (State)
1
- Mr.
Tom Thorne (State)
1
.- Mr.
Bob Clarke (State}
1
- ~~1r.
W. D. Ho~.~ells (State)
1
- Mr.
3ill,CourtneY (State)
1
- i~1r.
Geoff rey Kemp ( NSC )
1
- Mr.
Charles ;J. Greenleaf, Jr. (State)
1
- F1r.
Larry Grandel (State}
1
- Mr.
Charles Dunbar (DOD)
1
- Mr.
Jonathan Olsson (Mate)
1
- h1r.
Ron Lorton ( State )
6
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