THE AFGHAN RESISTERS IN A HOLY WAR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000807340004-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 11, 2012
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: April 6, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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Dr fn (-. I. Afir,
14 APR 1986
W-~~ YY-)
Uilan~
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ILaSk- ins. ~L(Z-
fie.. ~~ ~ ~ ~C' C (L L
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 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/11: CIA-RDP90-00965R000807340004-9
Mrs. Elizabeth Graham Weymouth
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 STAT
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OPINION
orx At 1cs c imcs
F-.Sunday, April 6.1986
The Afghan
Resisters in
a Holy War
Testimonies of
Battle, Torture
By Laity Weymouth
f.4LA.MASAq PAK TLN
P it Syed Gailani used to be a
religious leader in Afghanistan.
That was before the Soviets invad-
ed his country in 1979 to impose a regime
led by Babrak Karrnal. Now Gailard is a
leader of one of seven Afghan resistance
groups that have been fighting the Sovi-
eta for the last six yeah Although
President Zia ul-Haq of Pakistanrecently
told me that he believes the Soviets may
be genuinely interested in reaching a
political solution to the war in Afghani-
stan and withdrawing their troop. Gallant
doesn't believe the Soviets have such
benign intentions.
He explained. "We consider the rumors
of Soviet interest in troop witbdrawal
from Afghanistan a game to attract U.S.
attention, so the U.S. might say, SOH? why
all this assistance, if the Soviets will pull
out?."
Gailani met me in Islamabad, wearing a
blue Western suit; his son Hamad sat at
his side and helped with translation. His
real base is the Pakistani town of Pesha-
war, where moujahedeea resistance kad- '
ere and fighters gather when they are not
inside Afghanistan.
Gailani fled to Pakistan before the war,
when the pro-Soviet forces began their
campaign in advance of the 1979 Soviet
invasion. At that point, he took up what he
calls the "bdy jihad"-the war to oust the
Soviets from Afghanistan. 'My rdigiou
duty," be said, "is to save the nation from
the yoke of communism. They we anti-
Islam, and we are anti -communids."
The only hope for Afghanistan. accord-
ing to Gallant, is for the West to bcrease
aid to the mot jahedeen. 'Zf saditary
pressure were imposed on a broader scale
against the Soviets." Gailani argued,
"then they might seriously consider with-
drawing. We see signs they are tied. By
tncrmirig the aid the rime to a with-
drawal might be shortened -
Although Zia has argued against such
escalation. some US analysts agree with
GailanL Sen. Gordon J. Humphrey (R -
NIL) is a lading advocate of
iaerased
assistance to Afghan resistance
The main military problem for them.
Gailani said, is the Soviet mastery of the
stirs. allowing them to use their air force
with devastating effec', killing s o -
hedeen and bombing near the Pakistan:
'I've decided to stay
and fight. I worked
hard to become a
doctor. I quit because
I wanted freedom
for my country.'
border to prevent supplies from reaching
Afghanistan. "Their supremacy is in the
air," he said, and to counter it, "the West
must increase the number of sophisticated
weapons it gives to the moujahedeen-an-
ti-aircraft and anti-tank weapons."
Gailani doesn't believe Soviet-inspire
propaganda claiming that the United
States and the Soviet Union will strike a
deal on Afghanistan over the heads of the
moujahedeen. "We don't believe the Ad-
ministration would exclude the freedom
fighters or isolate them in a regional
agreement with the U.S.S.R.," he said.
If you isolate the moufahede+en today,
you compromise Afghanistan. Tomorrow,
the Soviets will step in somewhere else
like Pakistan or Iran. We are not their
final destination. Afghanistan is Not a
bridge for their achievements." he
warned.
.It is our faith and our strong belief that
have kept us fighting," Gailani said. He
pointed out that the Soviets have used
every means to break the will of the
resistance -mines, chemical weapons,
everything except the atomic bomb. He
told of Afghans being buried alive with
bulldozers brought in to cover them with
dirt. He told of torture, of small children
having their intestines torn out.
What political solution would satisfy
the resistance? "We won't compromise,"
the Afghan leader said. "We won't be a
second Finland. We were and will remain
a nonaligned country. A Soviet-con-
trolled country will not satisfy us."
Gailani's perception is that while the
they are
more softly
lki
,
ng
Soviets are ta
fighting more brutally and effectively.
His view is shared by other moujahedeea
leaders, including Dr. Shah Rukh Gran
who met me in Peshawar.
Peshawar is the last slop on the way
from Pakistan to Afghanistan-the gate-
way for both men and supplies. It's also
the arrival point for Afghan refugees
fleeing Soviet terror. Peshawar is the
Beirut of the Afghan war-but the war is
rlease see AFGHANS, rage Z
Lolly Weymouth is a contributing editor to
opinion.
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Afghans:
Resisters in
a Holy War
t ontinued from Page 1
being fought in another country and there
'is an absence of a world press corps to
d
cover the battles. Pakistan is remote an
Peshawar is particularly remote; in this
Islamic city a visitor rarely sees a woman.
Gran, a military commander with the
was taking a few weeks off
Gailani group
,
from the war. He said the Soviets have
been fighting harder during the last year.
'?' They are able to replace their casualties
li
es.
and get more troops. They have supp
We're doing our best, but if they lose one
tank, they can uru,a ui u..?w .. -- ---
-apse one gun, we may not be able to
replace it within a year."
-, Although dedicated to the struggle,
'bran is worried about time being the
side of the Soviets. The mou.$ahede
`*be worn down, he cautioned, or the
i
h
me to power
m
g
co
.
- -
a an.ow..
..rr------
and cut off aid to the resistance. He
'dropped the bravado of most resistance
fighters and said simply, "If you know
-there is hope, you have morale. If you
.*ttart hitting your head against a wall and
find it's hopeless, you start
morale."
Echoing Callan, Gran said the mouja-
:hedeen urgently need anti-aircraft weap-
""?'
ilwnino Increased Western aid. he said,
would at the very least mane uic w4u
expensive for the Soviets.
Gran practiced medicine in Kabul cul be-
invaded.
the Soviet troops
'f
ore
his practice after 1979 but worked
a danger"
After-hours for the resistance-
ous pursuit. His house was once searched
Be -
capo
o
"
n--
thlzer
1983 because of a tip from a sympa
?'tn the secret police and fled to Pakistan.
d
their minds through torture.
He said he could go to the West an
practice medicine, a profession he loves,
,end marry his fiancee, a woman who lives
Atlanta. But, he explained,'Tve decid-
to stay and fight. I worked hard to
become a doctor. I quit because I wanted
to gain freedom for my country-because
couldn't see the Soviets inside Afghani-
"If Russian soldiers started to h walk
told
arents
r
ll
you
p
New York and ki
, fight for
fume, "then you would start to ~
freedom. I've seen people their d in
n
;'prison-needles put nailS
I've treated a person
and theirr skin.
tortured by electric shock as well as a girl
d with something to cause pain in
t
`
e
injec
-her joints. I've seen people who've lost
eiixture of the two, he said Is
0ationalism are mixed. They are comrnu-
? eta, so we fight them from a religious
point of view. Moreover, they have
Invaded our country. It's freedom and
religious beliefs. It's also a revenge for
Those who have been killed., for families
who have suffered. They didn't have any
light to take over our country "
- ?It's a
itrongly than political Idec and
In the Afghan Surgical Hospital at
Peshawar lay wounded members of an
extremist resistance group with ties to
Iran. One whose arm had been amputated
told me he wanted to return to Afghani-
. jean. Why should I not fight?" he asked.
An injured 24-year-old put it this way: "I
don't bother about my life. I want to offer
aking in Farsi, he called for
head .. Spe
ply
better arms, saying it is impossible to
shoot down Soviet planes with rifles.
Several days later the United States
decided that anti-aircraft
tedl
r
y
epor
stinger missiles would be made available
to the Afghan resistance.
Although such arms are welcome, the
young fighter told me he saw no differ-
ence between the Soviet Union and the
United States. He claimed the freedo United
States is supporting Muslim lighters only because they are anti-Soviet
and he accused America of victimizing
Muslims in other parts of the globe: "In
Palestine, it is the U.S. which is support-
ing the Jews to kill Muslims."
The Nasir Bagh Refugee Camp on the
outskirts of Peshawar is where some of
the 3 million Afghan refugees are housed.
Afghan determination s being taught
there to the young. About 30 children,
ages six to eight, stood in a classroom.
Their teacher said she was teaching them
"that they came to Pakistan due to the
atrocities of Soviet forces. The Soviets are
irreligious-their enemy."
A young girl stood in front of the class
and led the others in singing: "Give me my
gun. I'm going to the jihad. Children of
martyrs that have many hopes. Let's win
our objectives by going into the field."
To meet Gallant and his allies is to
encounter a kind of fanatical determine-
= Lion - almost impossible to imagine by
-Western standards. For the last six years
this resolve has enabled the take on on the
and ill-clad moujahedeen
-Soviet army with considerable success.
'How it will end is impossible to predict.
Burhannuddin Rabbani, an Afghan po-
litical leader, says the Afghans will fight
to the last man. On the other hand, Syed
Bahaouddin Majrooh, director of the Af-
ghan Information Center and a knowl-
edgeable observer of the war, warns that
with the recent Soviet escalation in the
field, "unless Western assistance is in-
creased, the resistance is doomed to go
down."
Hamad Gailani told me that Gran would
soon return "inside." Did Gailani worry
about Gran's safety? No, he replied; a
who dies, dies for millions
- mou jahedeen
and lives on in the minds of the others. Yet
Hamad himself confessed that he had
cried for friends who had been killed: "Wee
have hearts, you know." 0
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F2 SU DA't. MARCH 23. 1986
U
Commentary and Opinion
lia Says Moscow Is Ready to Talk
Pakistani's Leader Wants Negotiations Over Afghanistan, Not More Covert Aid
By Lally Weymouth
I SLAMABAD- President Mohammed
Zia ul-Haq of Pakistan says that the So-
viet Union is seriously interested in ex-
ploring a political settlement to the six-
year-old war in Afghanistan. "We are in
touch with them directly and indirectly, and
from all counts, the signals we are receiving
are' that the Soviet Union wishes to with-
draw," Zia said in an interview at his palace
here last week.
The Pakistani leader explained Moscow's
Afghanistan problem this way: "Inside Af-
ghanistan, if you look at it from the Russian
point of view, things are not going so well.
I'm sure they can't afford to suffer as many
casualties as they are suffering today. So,
from that point of view, they also appear to
he keen to r ? ~ ?lve the issue of Afghanis:an,
l n: talk~n} t; om my own personal kr-ow;-
edge, at,' f .:r, the r Kcl 3nge of views di-
; .?c s . ar , ectly tha' we "ave berm r--
trig ing to S:... , a,itno., t of rnse'ves
Presteeu ' :';~'s hopeful view of Soviet
-k,, a change in his previous
n Though h.s tone was cau-
interview, he seemed to be
V. ingtor, that he thinks its.
rots t:?: ?':ations over Afghanutar
r: t r er ar, escalation of the cover
v. --a. ?- t' S. officials are urging.
Mam - 'icials question Zia's (,p,,.-
the Soviet peace feet,
-k . :he Soviets, far from
i:,., v all. are digging in for a icing
war Av. ,redict that rather than a
n?goticted i lent, the most likely pros
pect in Vg' tan is a protracted i:.,':? +rv
stalemate. C ? ?: ntagor, analyst describes
talk of .. thdrawai as 'a lot of hog-
wash. A to star.
Even some P: kistents are skeptical of
7;a'> :,.ent "Let's be sery frank. The
kus>.ans dui :'t , ome in tc withdraw." said
Fdklstar,'s -,rtive new prime minister,
MQ7tamn-,ec Khan Juneio, in an interview
hire last wee k fie added: "I agree with the
perjpk who say the Soviets will not with-
"
-Zia views the Afghanistan conflict in stra-
tegic terms. He reached for a well-worn
atlas to explain why he believes the Soviets
ortginaliy invaded Afghanistan. Pointing to
LI1i H c mouth u rites regularly about
feign affairs for The Los Angeles Times
S jmdirate.
PRESIDENT ZIA
The inyLrgenc1 it a tactic."
'' :kistan. he ;aid: "I: here over
the bone; of Pakistani - they are at the
mouth of the Gul: and i controls the
Strait r' H, nru cu Gulf. In one
move uses h ve thre u, st-, ure the
Strai? mu:.. ei,.:: au;. tell the
~iur? ~` ; are on r
?.' v, held b,;
ais tnat the
L'.S >r;ouid ir. r its aid to the
Afghar resistance fighters, the mujahed-
dine, to force the Soviets to accept a polit-
.,; tlemen:.
"To expect that the c-f :+,::r the insurgen-
cy, the less the time the Soviets will spend
in Afghanistan. is wrong." he said. "You've
got to find a political sc,',rtion to the prob-
lem. The insurgency is a t:.r tic. It will help
find a political solution. boot rt will not bring
about a solution. So, if ail, body's thinking
that the greater the heat 4 the insurgency,
the easier the solution, he is wrong The
freedom fighters must c,,nt,nue their effort
at the present level."
Zia didn't hide his concern that an esca-
lation of Western aid to the resistance could
bring attendant dangers for Pakistan. Pak-
istan now is home for more than 3 million
Afghan refugees. Moreover. Pakistan pro-
and a route for supplies and arms to enters
t
'
-
into Afghanistan. Thus far, said Zia, Sovie
But if further provoked, the Soviets could
cause more trouble.
To date, Pakistan's president has played
the political game with considerable skill,
minimizing the East-West aspects of the
Afghan struggle, while enabling the resis-
tance to receive covert aid. The strongest
evidence of his success is the most recent
United Nations vote on Afghanistan, where
122 out of 159 members voted to condemn
the Soviet invasion. He summed up the del-
icate Pakistani dilemma by saying, "The
question is at what temperature does the
kettle boil? If it's too high, the lid will fly
off w
Zia outlined what kind of political solution
would be acceptable to Pakistan. "The So-
viet Union must withdraw," he said. "The
refugees must return and it would be left to
the people of Afghanistan to decide what
kind of a government they want. We grant
the Soviet Union that a superpower cannot
tolerate a hostile neighbor." But Zia noted
ironically that Afghanistan was pro-Soviet
and hostile to Pakistan long before Soviet
troops marched in.
Pakistanis are especially fearful of a two-
front war: Afghanistan, a battleground for
the last six years. is on one border, and In-
dia, Paks':.an's traditional enemy, is ,n the
other.
The Inr?._ problem has eased slightly. Zia
regards Rajiv Gandhi as a major improve-
ment over his late mother, Indira. "We have
found a g:. ?-,' difference," he said. "We have
already .,al-Ile good progress, and I hope it
continues " But he cautioned that Rajiv isn't
likely to alter India's close relations with
the &,vet Union. "It's not possible." he
said, if you analyze the Indian position., you
will see that their entire military is depen-
dent on the resources of the Soviet U -'iion
.... Even if the leadership desires to
change, it's impossible."
Zia continues to regard the United Sates
as an ally, but he is pi agmatic. "One roust
not expect too much, even from one's wife,"
he said. "Then you're not disappointed. If
Pakistan starts expecting that the U.S. will
bring American troops and fight both
against India and the Russians, the Pakis-
tanis are expecting too much. If the Pakis-
tanis are expecting that the U.S. will open
the gates of Fort Knox and throw all the
gold for Pakistan, it's also expecting too
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much. We should expect from the U.S. only
what we think is necessary and essential
and then we will not be disappointed."
Zia is now preoccupied with events in his
own country where, after nine years, mar-
tial law has been lifted and democracy is
coming in stages. First, there has been an
election of a national assembly, which has
begun to function like a parliament. Zia has
also appointed the new prime minister,
Junejo, spreading executive power slightly
while keeping for himself the posts of pres-
ident and army chief of staff.
Analysts here and in Washington de-
bate whether Zia can control the pro-
cess of democratization he has
begun. Despite widespread speculation that
his recent power-sharing moves came un-
der pressure from the U.S. Congress, Zia
asserts that he came up with the plan him-
self. Others are now saying that Zia initially
may have thought he could limit the powers
of the assembly. Once the process was
launched, they say, Zia found he couldn't
stop it short of reimposing martial law-a
trump card he still holds.
Today, much day-to-day government
business has already shifted to the new
prime minister. The fact that Junejo, rather
than Zia, i d Swedish Prime Minister
Olof Palme's ?. ,viral was : ead here as a 5?gn
that he ts. a ?.-umulating more and more
power. T :?_, . rr rumors that Zia will step
down as army chief of staff by the end of the
year, and `?- ---me a civilian president. He
insisted. h,,,-ver. that he isn't yet ready to
dc- this.
Junejc o