PAKISTAN SEEKS RADAR TO DETER SOVIET RAIDS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000504720011-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 24, 2012
• Sequence Number: 11
• Publication Date: July 18, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/24: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504720011-5 T
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18 July 1985
Pakistan seeks radar
to deter Soviet raids
By Edward Neilan
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Pakistan wants to obtain sophisti-
cated early warning radar and sur-
veillance equipment from the
United States to look deep into
Afghanistan so that "we would have
a margin of time to meet air attacks
across our border;" Pakistan Foreign
Minister Sahabzada Yaqub Khan
said yesterday.
The "sneak raids" are not easy to
deal with, Mr. Yaqub Khan said, add
ing that his country was particularly
pleased to be receiving on a "rush"
basis Sidewinder and Stinger mis-
siles from the United States to.
strengthen its defenses against
increasing Soviet and Afghanistan
air incursions.
The 100 Sidewinders or AIM9L
air-to-air missiles, to be delivered on
an expedited basis, are part of a $50
million package of 500 Sidewinders
and other air defense equipment
which the administration last March
5 announced it would send to Paki-
stan.
The unspecified number of
shoulder-fired, surface-to-air
Stinger missiles worth $8.5 million
are in addition to the March pack-
age.
Last fall Pakistan asked the
United States about purchasing
Grumman Hawkeye E2C aircraft for
early warning border surveillance.
The United States sent a team to
Pakistan to evaluate the request and
found the E2C, mostly used for sea
surveillance, unsuitable for duty in
mountainous terrain, and both sides
agreed other early warning
equipment was necessary.
Mr. Yagub Khan, speaking to
reporters at a breakfast declined to
re and to speculation that Pakistan
might be offering this week to trade
intelligence access to two Mi-24
Hind helicopter gunships own last
week to Pakistan Afghan pilots,
forte early warning equipment.
The foreign minister is to meet Sec-
retary of State George P. Shultz Sat-
urday, but would not confirm which
subjects were on the agenda.
On the recently completed fourth
round of proximity talks held in
Geneva with the Soviet-backed
Afghan regime, Mr. Yaqub Khan
said some progress was made on
general principles for a solution that
would include these major points:
? Non-interference and non-
intervention by outside powers inI
Afghanistan.
? International guarantees on the,
final agreement by the United States
and Soviet Union.
? Arrangement for the return of
refugees, treatment of casualties
and attendant logistics.
? Finally, withdrawal of Soviet
forces.
The foreign minister said Paki-,
stan would be agreeable to a pull-
back of 75 percent of the more than
100,000 Soviet troops as constituting
withdrawal. He said he believed the
anti-communist guerrillas would
also accept such an arrangement.
Privately, Mr. Yakub Khan does
not put much store in the chances for
successful implementation of such
an agreement. "But even if there is
only a S percent chance," said a high-
ranking Pakistani official, "we
should give it our best diplomatic
shot."
Pakistan believes that willingness
to pursue negotiations will act "as a
deterrent against further Soviet
escalation" in the form of
increasingly frequent cross-border
air strikes.
Western estimates are that the
Afghan army has shrunk from
100,000 to about 30,000 through
casualties and defections. This
would make it unlikely that Soviet
forces could soon leave the country,
many observers believe.
"We should withhold judgment,
however skeptical we may feel, on
Soviet intentions and put to the test
Soviet sincerity. They have said their
forces are there temporarily and
will withdraw," Mr. Yaqub Khan said.
"No one is going to push the Soviet
army out of Afghanistan by force.
"The key to withdrawal lies in
Moscow so we are seeking direct
talks there;' he said.
The foreign minister was asked
about the recent visit here of Indian
Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi,
including his warnings to the United
States on the "danger" of Pakistan's
nuclear program.
"Let me reiterate, we shall not
make nuclear weapons and we shall
not do anything to damage U.S.-
Pakistan relations;' Mr. Yaqub Khan
said.
Meanwhile, in Islamabad, Paki-
stan yesterday strongly protested to
"Afghan authorities" over the arrest
of two staff members of its embassy
in the Afghan capital of Kabul 'flies-
day and demanded their immediate
release.
A statement by the foreign office
said the arrests violated the Vienna
convention on diplomatic practices
and privileges.
Pakistan does not recognize the
government of President Babrak
Karmal in Afghanistan, installed
after the Soviet invasion of the coun-
try in December 1979, but maintains
its embassy in Kabul with a skeleton
staff.
It is the first time that Afghan
authorities have arrested Pakistan
Embassy staff members.
Observers in Islamabad think the
latest arrests might be part of pres-
sure tactics by the Kabul regime to
secure the return of the seven
Afghan air force officers who
piloted the two Mi-24 helicopter gun-
ships to Pakistan last Saturday.
The Mi-24 is considered the -
Soviet Union's most effective
weapon against the Afghan resis-
tance and the defectors Provided
& stern intelligence services the_
first opportunity to inspect the for-
mi a e weapon.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/24: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504720011-5