Afghan draft extended
NZPA-AFP Islamabad Afghanistan’s Government has ordered all its male nationals aged up to 40 to enlist for three years of compulsory military service, Radio Kabul reports. The draft age is 18, and two to three years of military service is already compulsory, but the Defence Ministry communique carried by the radio tightened conscription rules. All Afghan men aged 18 to 40 were eligible even if they had already completed a first cofnpulsory service, the radio said. Men over 40 could obtain a military release only if they had served their full three years. There have been recent reports of mass defections by young Afghan soldiers opposed to the Soviet military presence in Afghanistan. Western diplomats in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, said that hundreds of soldiers had defected in the northern Panjshir Valley this month. Similar desertions were reported during joint Soviet-Afghan military operations in eastern and central provinces a few months ago. The deserters had reportedly joined Muslim fundamentalists fighting Communist rule. ____
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Press, 25 October 1985, Page 6
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165Afghan draft extended Press, 25 October 1985, Page 6
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