AFGHANISTAN COUP

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000100270002-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 23, 2010
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: January 5, 1980
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/23: CIA-RDP90-00552R000100270002-1
STAT
I
i;".D HIJtIAN EVENTS
5 January 1980
THIS W$#K'Sr=WSFROM
.`~. t ~ ht 1
it x.11; w +t r df .?~ l J~ 1:~1.
f I IIII~~~~iQ .'~r
Y o- 1.4'1
~~,.: ghfrn si3n Colt
While the United States has been focusing its
attention on Iran, the Soviet Union, according to
U.S. intelligence sources, helped foster the
Afghanistan coup last week which saw the even
more pro-Soviet Babrak Karrnal seize power from
President Hafizullah Am:n and than have Amin
executed.
According to State Department officials, the
Soviets, just prior to the coup, had quadrupled-
from about 1,500 to 6,C0O--the number of com-
bat troops and military advisers inside Afghanis-
tan, using a massive airlift from bases in Russia.
As many as 20,000 Soviet military of all kinds may
be in the country, department sources say, and as
many as 50,000 soldiers are said to be massed at
the Soviet-Afghanistan border. The assessment of
U.S. intelligence officials is that Babrak is "an
explosive character, as close as you could ever get
to the classic Moscow-lining Communist."
Not since Czechoslovakia have the Soviets been
willing to use their troops to impose their will on a
sovereign nation, and military analysts note that
the swift airborne movement into Afghanistan
underscores the Soviet capacity to move signifi-
cant number of troops in a relatively short time.
The big question now seems to be whether the
new regime, with massive numbers of Soviet com-
bat troops,will be able to eliminate the insurgent
Moslem groups that threatened Amin's rule, and
then use Afghanistan as. a launching pad to ex-
pand the Soviet power base in this area of the
world.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/23: CIA-RDP90-00552R000100270002-1