U.S. ACCUSES SOVIET OF POISONING 3,000

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000402700058-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 26, 2012
• Sequence Number: 58
• Publication Date: March 9, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
;, Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/26: CIA-RDP90-00965R000402700058-9
5 . i .
_FL, D
U.S. ACCUSES SOVIET
OF POISONING 3,000
Says Use of Chemical Weapons
on Afghans Violates Treaty
Special to The New Yort Timm
WASHINGTON, March 8' The Rea-`
gan Administration asserted today that
Soviet forces had killed at least 3,000
people in Afghanistan with poison gas
and other chemical weapons in violation
of an international treaty the Soviet
Union signed.
Deputy Secretary of State Walter J.:
Stoessel Jr. told the Senate Foreign'
Relations Committee that the informa-
tion came from Afghan Army defectors
who had been trained by the Soviet
Union in chemical warfare and from
refugees in Pakistan who purportedly
were victims of chemical attacks.
"Asa result of chemical attacks, 3,042
deaths attributed to 47 separate inci-
dents between the summer of 1979 and
the summer of 1981 have been report..
ed," Mr. Stoessel said. He said the num-
ber was based on conservative analyses
and was reliable.
A State Department intelligence offi-
cial, Deputy Assistant Secretary Philip
H. Stoddard, who accompanied Mr.
Stoessel to the hearing, said, "We think
the actual total of numbers killed by
chemical weapons was considerably
higher."
In his testimony, Mr. Stoessel said,
"Analysis of all the information avail-
able leads us to conclude that attacks
have been conducted with irritants, in-
capacitants, nerve agents, phosgene
oxime and perhaps mycotoxins, mus-
tard, lewisite and toxic smoke."
He said, "Afghan military defectors
have provided information on chemical
weapons containing lethal nerve agents,
where they were stockpiled and where
and when they have been used." Mr.
Stoddard said some of the defectors
were Afghan officers trained in chemi-
cal warfare by the Soviet Union.
Mr. Stoddard, in testimony and later
in a telephone interview,' said the
sources of information included the do-
fectors, refugees in Pakistan who said
they had seen chemical attacks, doctors
who said they had treated victims of
chemical attacks, victims who said they
had survived attacks and journalists
who had been in Afghanistan.
NEW YORK TIDIES
9 MARCH 1982
He said, however, that they had no' Increase in Refugees Reported
samples, no pictures and no cannisters
or bombs. "Nobody can put on the table Mr. Stoessel suggested that the num-
a projectile or bomb," he said, although ber of Afghan refugees had increased
the United States has been trying to ob- j from two million to three million in re-
tain one. cent months. He said: "About three mil-
Toll May Be Higher lion Afghan refugees have fled their
homeland seeking freedom, principally
"Since you don't have a sample," he j, in neighboring Pakistan. Almost one-
"
said, you look at the symptoms." He
said that analysts took all the reports of
chemical attacks, arranged them in
clusters around an alleged incident,
then checked the reports against each
other in an effort to corroborate them.
Mr. Stoddard said reports not measur-
ing up to stringent criteria were not
used. He said further details would be
made public later and the number of
deaths might be twice the 3,042 reported
today.
Mr. Stoddard also later cleared up
confusion about Mr. Stoessel's testi-
mony that the Soviet Union began the
chemical attacks in the summer of 1979.
The Soviet thrust into Afghaninstan
came on Dec. 27,1979. Mr. Stoddard said
that Afghan forces trained and equipped
by the Soviet Union conducted the first
few chemical attacks, but he said he did
not know how many.
Mr. Stoessel said that the United
States had brought up the issue of chem-
ical warfare in Afghanistan with the
Soviet Union several times at different
levels, which he did not specify, and that
Moscow had denied using the weapons.
A Change of Position for U.S.
The United States has several times
accused the Soviet Union of using chem-
ical weapons in violation of a pact
signed in Geneva in 1925. But today's
testimony, the officials said, was the
most specific allegation made against
the Soviet Union.
Publicizing information supporting
the charges of Soviet use of chemical
weapons in Afghanistan is a reversal for
the Reagan Administration. Just last
week officials in the Defense Intelli-
gence Agency, in the International Se-
curity Agency In the Defense Depart- i
ment and in the State Department said
they had no evidence that Soviet forces
used chemical weapons in Afghanistan.
Why the position was changed was not
clear. President Reagan has just de.
cided that the United States will resume
production of chemical weapons and has
asked for a substantial increase in the
military budget for such weapons.
To focus American attention on the
Afghan situation, Mr. Stoessel said,
President Reagan plans to sign a meas-
ure on Wednesday declaring the first
day of spring Afghanistan Day. Afghans
celebrate the day as the beginning of the
new year.
Afghanistan-the largest group of refu-
gees in the world - has so voted with its
feet."
He also asserted,' without citing a
sources, "There are thousands of politi-
cal prisoners. We have frequent reports
of torture, of summary executions and a,
long list of other violations which testify
to the brutality of the Afghan regime
and its Soviet masters."
Mr. Stoessel further testified, again
without citing a source, that Soviet
troops had recently subjected Kanda-
har, Afganistan's second largest city,
"to a savage artillery and air bombard-
ment in which hundreds of innocent
civilians lost their lives."
"After the bombardment," he contin-
ued, "Soviet forces entered the city and
engaged in wanton looting and killing
among the civilian population. Many of
the city's buildings were severely dam-
aged; two-thirds of its population fled."
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/26: CIA-RDP90-00965R000402700058-9