SOVIET READY TO BOLSTER ITS AFGHAN FORCE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000402700062-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 26, 2012
• Sequence Number: 62
• Publication Date: December 24, 1981
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/26: CIA-RDP90-00965R000402700062-4
ARTICLE APPEAREll THE NEW YORK TIMES
off; PAGE_, --- 24 December 1981
,
'Soviet Ready to Bolit~rJts
y RICHARD HALLORAN
B
SpwW mTLANAYwkrimes
WASHINGTON, Dec. 23 - The Soviet
Union is preparing to send more mili-
tary forces and equipment, particularly
helicopters, into Afghanistan, according
to military analysts here.. . .
The analysts are surprised, they said.
because only a few weeks ago they saw
no signs of such a move. They thought
then that Moscow would not send more
troops into Afghanistan so it could give
priority to forces that might be needed
for Poland:
The Soviet high command, which sent
a survey team of senior officers to Kabul
recently, appears to have decided that it
must add.to its 85,000 to 90,000 troops in
Afghanistan because they are bogged
to shoot down MIG jet fighters as they
flew down valleys. The machine-gun-
ners fired from the mountainsides hop-
ing that the MIG's would fly into the hail
of . bullets. The analysts said they
thought the Afghans had had only lim-
ited success with that technique.
Problems of Morale
Steady casualties have hurt the mo-
rale of Soviet soldiers, the anaylsts said.
Up to 5,000 have been killed in the two
years, they said, and perhaps as many
more have beenwounded.
They said the bodies had been re..
turned to the Soviet Union for burial, but
that the Soviet press had almost ignored
the fighting in Afghanistan. The offi-
cials said that, so far as they could
determine. relatives of the soldiers have
not protested the war.
With boredom a prime enemy of mo-
rale, the analysts said. Soviet soldiers
had turned to heavy drinking and in
some instances to drugs. Some Soviet
soldiers have sold their rifles in the
black market to get money for alcohol
and drugs, they said.
. In addition. many Soviet soldiers have
contracted hepatitis and other illnesses
because of unsanitary water supplies.
The medical problem has been aggra-
vated by Afghanistan's relatively poor
medical facilities, they said.
United States officials said they had
seen evidence of -preparations for the
reinforcements in the Soviet Union near
Afghanistan, including the assembly of
helicopters and the gathering of ground
forces. The officials would not to discuss.
how they
knc wrr ttrat eater
_r COM F.
ur" I the "m yealz 3ftZ= et troops
moved into Afghanistan, they have been
unable to defeat the Afghan resistance
and have berely'been able to contain it,
the -analysts said, despite the over-
whelming superiority of Soviet fire-
power and sophisticated weapooe.
Some Reasom for Failure '- -
They said that Soviet leaders had been,
slow to adapt their tactics, which are do-.
signed for conventional land warfare, to
counterinsurgency, that Soviet troops
suffered from poor morale and disci-
pline and that many weapons, such as
tanks and armored personnel carriers,
were inadequate for the constant skir-
mishing with elusive Afghans.
On the other side, the officials said
that the Afghans had steadily- become
better armed, that they had improved
their tactics and that they had been able
to tie down many Soviet soldiers In rou-
tine guard duty while they controlled
large parts of thecaantryside..
The analysts said that Afghans had
even been able to bring down Russian
helicopters with rifles. Afghan'marks-
men high up on mountainsides shoot
down on the lightly armored tops'of Rue.
sian Hind helicopters, they said. Some
also disabled helicopters by shooting the
rear rotor.
The analysts sold they bad reports
that Afghan machine-gunners had tried
The analysts said that the Soviet
forces had come to rely on helicopters
more and more but they said Soviet
pilots and tactics were about 15 years
behind the United States, or back where
the United States was in the early days
of the Vietnam War. '
Specifically. they said that Soviet
helicopters were not built for Afghani-
stan's high altitudes and, because they
were heavy, often could not reach the
tops of mountains where insurgents take
refuge.
On the ground, the analysts said,
Soviet tanks have become nearly static
pillboxes useful only for general support
fire for infantry troops. Moreover. some
are unable to raise their guns high
enough to fire at insurgents on moun-
tainsides.
Similarly, armored pers~eI carri-
ers, which are intended to carry troops
into battle and support them with cover-
ing fire, have been forced to stay on
roads with their troops buttoned,up in.
side. Otherwise, the soldiers could be
cut down in ambushes.
As for the Afghan Army. the analysts
said, it has become little more than a ;
shadow force. The Afghan Government .J
sent out a call for 130,000 men in October {
and only 8,000 came forward.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/26: CIA-RDP90-00965R000402700062-4