Young Afghans press-ganged

Press, 19 June 1986, Page 10

Young Afghans press-ganged

Afghanistan’s Sovietbacked authorities are rounding up youths from the streets to fight in the country’s dwindling Army against Muslim rebels, Western diplomats say. Youths in the Afghan capital Kabul, and the nearby town of Paghman, were frequently seen being rounded up from the streets over the past few days, the diplomats quoted reports reaching Islamabad from Afghanistan as saying. Army truckloads of young men in civilian clothes were seen heading towards military barracks. Kabul radio announced on Sunday rules aimed at cutting draft dodging by making access to higher education dependent on completing of military service. The diplomats said the Afghan leader, a former secret police chief who became Communist Party head on May 4, hoped the

rules would help prevent a recurrence of student protests backing the former party leader, Babrak Karmal. , ; Tribesmen were also beefing up the Army, which, according to diplomatic reports, had shrunk to less than half the 80,000 men it had in the late 1970 s before the war against the Muslim guerrillas. The Prime Minister, Sultan Ali Klshtmand, told Army commanders on Tuesday that 18,000 tribesmen were now under arms. Quoted by Kabul radio, he said the tribesmen were entrusted with preventing guerrilla infiltration of their respective regions. The diplomats said the new draft rules were causing panic among parents in Kabul with children coming to the draft age of 18.