SOVIET PRISONERS IN AFGHANISTAN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP85T00287R001301000001-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 23, 2010
• Sequence Number: 1
• Content Type: REPORT

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Soviet Prisoners in Afghanistan
The Afghan insurgents apparently hold 50 to
100 Soviet prisoners. We believe most were
captured; a smaller number deserted or
is increasing re uctance among the insurgents to
release their captives to any foreign agency or
organization. The guerrillas believe that they
have received no tangible benefits from those
freed previously, and they have been unable to
negotiate any prisoner exchanges with the
Soviets. We believe they wiZZ continue to
retain their captives, but increasing
frustrations or greater military pressure in
those areas where captives are held could cause
the insurgents to resume executions of Soviet
prisoners, a common practice among most groups
during the first two years of the Afghan
Numbers of Prisoners
Reported numbers of Soviet prisoners held by Afghan
resistance groups range from 30 to several hundred.
The number of prisoners fluctuates. Soviet captives
were routinely killed by most groups during the first two
years of the conflict. Insurgents then began to retain
their prisoners in hopes of negotiating exchanges or
gaining propaganda benefits. In 1981 the Soviets
approached the International Committee of the Red Cross
(ICRC) to arrange an exchange after a MIG pilot was
captured. This channel was formalized in 198[, and the
insurgents have since released i0 prisoners to
Switzerland via the ICRC. A few were also released to
Pakistan, which quickly turned them over to the Soviet
Embassy, and in late 1983 two were given to a private
NESA M 84-10118X
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human rights organization
The insurgents may be attempting to rid themselves
of some of their prisoners before the Soviets resume
large-scale military operations this spring. The number
and cooperativeness of prisoners affects the mobility of
insurgent groups and increases the risk of being spotted
in the countryside. Should one escape, camps and
personnel could be identified. Captives also use
precious food and transportation resources.
Prisoners, Deserters, or Defectors?
We believe most Soviets in insurgent hands are
legitimate prisoners. A smaller number are defectors who
have become alienated from Soviet society or deserters
who fled their units because of personal problems,
general weariness with the harsh life of a Soviet
enlisted man, or a wish to escape punishment. The last
category includes some who have become drug addicts while
in Afghanistan.
-- Western academicians and journalists traveling in
Afghanistan regularly report that most Soviet
captives say they are deserters or defectors.
These claims gain them good treatment by the
insurgents and increase their chances of being
released to other parties.
-- Although there are occasional references to
captured Soviet officers,
almost all of the Soviets now in
insurgent hands are conscripts.
ose cap ure are norma ly seized while they are
scrounging for food or drugs in a village.
-- Earlier this year Soviet commanders stopped
allowing troops to leave their bases singly or in
pairs and ordered that the de 'n
,groups. this
action was a en o re uce?the possibility of
capture and desertion.
-- Few prisoners are taken in combat because the
Soviets normally remain in their vehicles, and
most engagements are conducted at long range.
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-- A small proportion of Soviets have voluntarily
left their units and joined the insurgents
against their former comrades. Most of these
soldiers profess to be Muslims (many are Tajiks
and Uzbeks) who have a sense of religious and
ethnic affinity with the insurgents.
Location of Prisoners
Soviets being held by insurgents are dispersed
throughout Afghanistan and the Afghan refugee areas in
Pakistan. Prisoners usually travel with the group that
captured them and are not transferred to a central
holding area. During the first year of ICRC involvement
in this issue, insurgents kept the prisoners they were
willing to release in Peshawar, according to an ICRC
official. One captive escaped in early 1983 and was
later spotted in the Soviet Embassy in Islamabad. The
prisoners were subsequently relocated to remote areas in
Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Insurgent Perceptions
A number of factors influence the insurgents'
decision to retain or kill their captives. Currently,
insurgents tend to retain prisoners primarily because it
brings the group prestige from their peers.
International recognition often comes to those groups
with Soviet prisoners since they prompt more visits from
foreigners. The Afghan resistance improved its world
image when it began to retain, and subsequently release
to the ICRC, some prisoners in accordance with the Geneva
Convention. Some groups also keep prisoners in hopes
that the Soviets will begin to exchange captured
resistance fighters.
Nonetheless, the factors that influence the
insurgents to execute Soviet prisoners appear to be
gaining strength. The Soviets generally have refused to
negotiate prisoner swaps directly with the insurgent
groups or through the ICRC. Insurgents fear that any
person whose name appears on a trade list and is being
held in Afghan prisons will be killed. ICRC inspections
of Afghan prisons, a key factor in. the insurgents'
willingness to turn over captives to the ICRC, have not
occurred since mid-1982. The insurgents also believe
that the West has not taken full advantage of the
propaganda opportunities presented by prisoners released
to the ICRC. Some insurgent yroups unconditionally
require that those released not be allowed to return to
the USSR. Pakistan, Switzerland, and the ICRC do not
accept this stipulation. Increasing Afghan and Soviet
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military pressure, moreover, could force the insurgents
to kill captives rather than risk losing them to the
International Attitudes
Pakistan is especially sensitive to possible Soviet
reprisals and is reluctant to take a strong public
position on the issue. Nonetheless_
Pakistan has
reacted favorably to a proposed multilateral approach
to the resettlement issue.
-- Switzerland is quietly cooperating with the ICRC,
citing the Geneva convention as its reason for
providing hurnane treatment for prisoners of
war. The Geneva convention, however, makes no
promises for deserters or defectors.
-- We believe that private human rights groups will
attempt to remove an increasing number of Soviet
"defectors" from Afghanistan and Pakistan, either
unilaterally or b.y pressing Western governments
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