AFGHANS RESIST CONSCRIPTION BY THE SOVIETS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000100140071-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 3, 2012
• Sequence Number: 71
• Publication Date: June 1, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sl Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/03 :CIA-RDP90-009658000100140071-1
ARTICLE AF'~~..:.,._ WASHINGTON POST
~ P11~A~,~, ~. ~ 1 JUNF 1983
~f ghans Resist while, to make more males available
for recruiting, the government has
Conscription
:By the Soviets
Like the brutal press gangs of
King George III, Soviet "recruiters"
in ~ Afghanistan :are having their
problems trying to enlist natives to.
fight. against their countrymen. Af-
ghans are understandably reluctant
to sign up as cannon. _~'odder-or,
more likely, sniper #argets-in the
army of the Soviet-backed Kabul re-
~e? .
Co~dential State Department in-.
telligence reports describe some of
the difficulties the Soviets have en-
countered in ,their heavy-handed at-
tempts to draft Afghan .melee -into
the so-called "people's army." Here
are some of the details; contained in
documents seen by my associate Lu-
~oette Lagnado:
? The press gangs' activities
`beached unprecedented propor=
tions" last winter, when 'massive
desertions had .decimated .the Af-
ghan army. "Men in their 50s and
boys in their Early -teens were often
seized from the street and sent -out
of Kabul before their families could
attempt to intervene."
? There are reports that the com-
munist puppet regime is preparing
to~raise the draft age to 45. Mean-
reportedly decided to allow only
women and former soldiers to enter
Kabul University this year.
? Dragnet operations in sealed-off
sections of Afghan cities are used iri
addition to }he roving .press gangs.
"There have been periods of more
intensive searclrand-seizure efforts
in Kabul .and provincial .cities. Last
week, the search for -conscripts in
Kabul intensified; areas of the city
are once again being surrounded and
searched, often using .:cadets from
the military academies."
? Bazaars and secondary schools
ere frequent targets of the~mobile re-
cruiting gangs, ea they seek out any
male deemed physically =capable of
carrying a gun.
?.One incident described in a con-
fidential report involved a youth
'~vho could not have been more than
lb years old." Stopped by a press
gang, the lad punched the officer in
charge. He was "quickly .beaten to
the ground and thrown_into the back
flf the gang's truck."
? Tvvo boys, aged 14 and .15,
found in their home during .their fa-
ther's absence, were forably dragged
away "and are now in uniform."
+ Veterans who have already com-
pleted their military service since the
Soviet invasion more .than three
years-ago reportedly are being called
up again.
? "The regime has gone so ,fat
as to draft baggage handlers"~:
Kabul airport," according to one ca-
The Afghans have devised certain
expedients to "Dope with the,,re-
gime's hunger for cannon . foddP.F??
acxording to one intelligence regozt,
Families with draft-age sons bade
them in their homes, send there to
live with relatives in rural areas pr-
shades of the Vietnam era-~saf}fl
' them out of the country. .~^
Occasionally, families have suc-
needed in bribing the press genga:lb
"come back tomorrow" for a house
search, then spirited their sons rntt
of harm's wa
th
t
i
ht
"~~
y
a
n
g
.
In the bazaars, gangs of under-age
_ street urchins keep watch for . the
roving recruiters, and give enorotgh
warning to let draftable shopkeepers
close up or at least duck behind
.their wares.
.--.
U.S. intelligence .analysts ,be-
lieve the Soviets' increasingly des-
perate conscription efforts are ~_gi-
ving them an Afghan army of dull
ous value, and driving those who
elude the press gangs out of the
country.
But the Kremlin obviously doesn't
care how many Afghans are killed by
the guerrillas or become refugees..
The Soviets want the country, not
its unquenchably independent peo-
ple.
~ Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/03 :CIA-RDP90-009658000100140071-1