REPORT FROM AFGHANISTAN: THE CONFLICT--AND CIVILIAN TOLL--WORSE THAN EVER

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00561R000100020066-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 17, 2012
• Sequence Number: 66
• Publication Date: September 26, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/17: CIA-RDP91-00561 R000100020066-7
STAT
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
26 September 1984
Report from Afghanistan: the conflict
and civilian toll worse than ever
The writer has just spent nearly three months in Afghanistan and the
frontier areas of Pakistan - including an 850-mile trek on foot around
resistance areas in the northeast Hindu Kush mountains. This was his
sixth major trip into Afghanistan since the December 1979 Soviet invasion.
their fighting capabilities. They are applying more effec-
tive tactics and their troops appear better trained in the -
art of anti-insurgency.
As part of its persistent and often successful propa-
ganda effort,. Radio Kabul regularly claims to have
annihilated vast numbers of "antirevolutionaries.".Only ,
last week, it maintained that its forces killed 23, 000 guer-
rill.f.s in 1984 alone - a figure granted little credence by
most observers unless civilians are also included. -
While the mujahideen, or holy warriors, as the guerril-
las are called, are known to have suffered devastating
setbacks in some areas, they have tended to hold their
own. According to Western intelligence reports and jour-
nalists who have witnessed several attacks against gov-
ernment and Soviet convoys and bases this year, the re-
sistance may be inflicting higher casualties on the Red
Army than before. It is thought that the Soviets are also
taking substantial losses by conducting more exposed
commando-style operations inside guerrilla territory.
For Afghan civilians, however, the future looks grim.
Although some regions such as the valleys of Nuristan in
the northeast and the central highlands of the Hazarajat
have been spared the full thrust of war in recent years,
most provinces have suffered badly.
While reliable figures are virtually impossible to as-
certain, hundreds of thousands of men, women, and chil-
dren are believed to have been killed or have died as a
direct consequence of the war. Aerial bombardments and
ground assaults against civilian habitations, executions,
disease, and malnutrition provoked by the destruction of
food sources are principal causes.
Furthermore, the number of Afghans seeking refuge
in Pakistan, Iran,- and elsewhere - now estimated at
over 5 million and nearly one-third of Afghanistan's pre-
war population of 15 million to 17 million - continues to
rise. For the- first time, farmers and nomads from the
northern provinces of Kunduz, Takhar, and Baghlan
bordering the USSR have been leaving in large numbers.
Analysts consider Moscow's systematic application of
terror as part of a deliberate policy to rid Afghanistan of
all potential resistance, a form of "migratory genocide"
ignored by most of the world. This includes the strafing
by Soviet MIG-27s on Aug. 18, as witnessed by this cor-
respondent near the Chamar Pass just east of the
Panjshair of some 500 Kandari nomads and their ani-
mals. The attack resulted
in at least 40 dead and
dozens of injured. -
Continued
By Edward Girardet
Special to The Christian Science Monitor
Kunar Valley, Afghanistan
Most of the villages along the western..
banks of the Kunar River lie deserted, the :
bomb-shattered mud houses crumbling
and the once lush, irrigated fields and
fruit orchards little
more than listless
dust bowls.
For several
years now, the
nearby mountains
and ravines have
served as havens
for the hidden
bases of local guerrilla groups
The main highway which traces the
length of the Kunar Valley attests to the
fierce clashes that regularly erupt between
Afghan resistance fighters and Soviet oc-
cupiers. It is strewn with wrecked govern-
ment vehicles, including a Soviet tank,
the scatterings of spent machine-gun car-
tridges, and the jagged remains of ex- .
ploded artillery shells.
From all indications, this year has'
been the hardest, the most gruesome-of
the war so far. Not only have the Soviets
intensified their operations against the Af-
ghan resistance;
but they also have
systematically -
stepped up acts of
terror and intimi-
civilians. ..
Militarily the
Soviet Army and
guerrillas have been going hammer and
tongs at each other since early this year.
But, as far as can be determined, the con-
i flict remains a grueling standoff.
The Soviets have learned some lessons'
of the past and have generally. improved";
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/17: CIA-RDP91-00561 R000100020066-7