Panjshir attacks fail

Press, 25 May 1984, Page 12

Panjshir attacks fail

The Russians have had their first setback in Afghanistan since the beginning of the post-Andropov drive to stamp out the guerrilla resistance.

In the Panjshir valley north of Kabul, nearly 30,000 Russian and Afghan soldiers have suffered heavy casualties in an unsuccessful attempt to capture the strongholds of some 2,000 mujaheddin. American intelligence sources estimate that the Russians have lost 500 men in the Panjshir in a week and 2000 throughout the country since the offensive began in mid-April. They were earlier reckoned to have lost a total of 5000 men in four years of fighting. The mujaheddin say 200 of their men have

been killed in recent weeks in the Panjshir. During the first week in May, Soviet tanks and foot-soldiers pushed up the tributary valleys of Khenj and Bazarak, while troops were lifted by helicopter on to the crests of the hills surrounding the Panjshir. The main body of Russian and Afghan troop stayed in the southeastern half of the central valley. Reinforcements moved in from the Andarab to the west and the Anjuman to the north to try to root out any guerrillas hiding up the northern end of the valley. The fighting continues, but most of the Russian and Government troops, have been pushed back into

the valley. The mujaheddin claim to have captured a lot of arms, and in Khenj, 900 Afghan soldiers. They do not say what will happen to the prisoners: both sides in this war ignore the Geneva rules.

The Russians will soon have to decide whether to withdraw from the Panjshir, as they have in six previous offensives, or to garrison the valley. The number of Soviet troops in Afghanistan seems to have gone up from 105,000 to some 120,000. They may now calculate that they can afford to keep a few thousand men in the Panjshir in the hope of keeping the mujaheddin out.

Copyright — The Economist.