REBELS LOSE STRENGTH, HATCH SAYS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000302320028-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 4, 2012
• Sequence Number: 28
• Publication Date: August 14, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/10/04: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302320028-5
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11V4 PAGE
Rebels lose
strength,
Hatch says
By Bill Gertz T
THE gaSHIrdu FUR TIMES
Resistance forces fighting Soviet
troops in Afghanistan continue to
lose strength as the Soviet Union in-
creases its control over the country,
Amentgr of the Senate Intelligence
Committee saicyesterday.
Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, Utah Repub-
lican, told a Senate task force that
disunity and weapons shortages
have prevented rebel attacks against
major targets in Afghanistan, such
as a large land bridge leading into
the Soviet Union and a natural gas
pipeline.
"The situation continues to dete-
riorate this summer," said Mr. Hatch,
who met with rebel leaders while on
Intelligence Committee fact-finding
tours in 1985 and earlier this year.
The United States, along with
Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Iran, has
sunplied Afghan rebels with mili-
ta y weapons and other covert aid
since Soviet forces invaded the
country in December 1979.
The hearing on the military effec-
tiveness of the Afghan resistance
was sponsored by the Congressional
Task Force on Afghanistan.
Mr. Hatch said Western news
accounts of the Afghan war have not
revealed the extent of Soviet control.
He said Soviet troops, more than
100,000 strong, have secured Afghan
cities and major supply lines from
WASHINGTON TIMES
14 August 1986
the Soviet Union to the capital of
Kabul, which is so safe that Soviet
military officers stationed there are
permitted to bring their families.
Diplomatic sources in Pakistan,
however, reported Tuesday Afghan
rebels launched rocket attacks
against the Soviet and Polish embas-
sies in Kabul. It was the fourth
straight week of rebel raids on the
capital, according to those sources.
Most fighting in Afghanistan has
taken place in rural areas outside
Afghanistan's major cities, the
sources said.
Mr. Hatch said: "The next time
you hear about the so-called
stalemate in Afghanistan, perhaps
you ought to be thinking instead
about those Soviet military wives
and children shopping happily in the
Kabul bazaars and that massive nat.-
_ ural gas pipeline fueling Soviet in-
dustry in Central Asia."
The most recent battles in the Af-
ghan war are Soviet initiatives di-
rected at closing rebel supply lines
near the Pakistan border, Mr. Hatch
said.
Edward N. Luttwak, a military
analyst at Georgetown University's
Center for Strategic and Interna-
tional Affairs, said the Afghan reb-
els must "inflict grievous bodily
harm" on Soviet occupation forces to
be effective.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/10/04: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302320028-5