BIG LOSSES OF SOVIET PLANES CITED

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000604900023-1
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 4, 2012
• Sequence Number: 23
• Publication Date: December 17, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/05/04: CIA-RDP90-00965R000604900023-1
WASHINGTON POST
17 December 1986
Big Losses
Of Soviet
Planes Cited
Afghan Rebels Said
To Down One a Day
::~'_-zz-- -By David_B t0 ta_w.ay1,
Washington Pet Staff Writer
Afghan rebels, who recently be-
gan receiving U.S.-supplied Stinger
antiaircraft missiles, have inflicted
heavy losses on Soviet and Afghan
aircraft the past three months,
shooting down about one a day, the
State Department said yesterday.
Deputy Assistant Secretary of
State Robert Peck, commenting on
a report marking the seventh an-
niversary of the Soviet invasion of
Afghanistan, said the rebels had
achieved a "significant increase" in
air-defense capability and inflicted
"an unprecedented rate of aircraft
losses."
"Over the past three months, air-
craft losses, communist aircraft
losses in Afghanistan, have been
running in the neighborhood of one
aircraft per day," Peck said.
He refused to say whether the
Stingers, which the Reagan admin-
istration decided last March to
make available as part of a covert
military aid program, were respon-
sible for the upswing in downed hel-
icopters and fixed-wing planes. The
Stinger, a heat-seeking surface-to-
air missile that is effective against
low-altitude craft, can be shoulder-
fired by one person.
The 19-page report, presented
by Deputy Secretary of State John
C. Whitehead, said that the main-
stay of the rebel air defenses re-
mained old Soviet-made 12.7mm
heavy machine guns, but that the
rebels had also made use of more
sophisticated weapons this past
year, including "various types" of
surface-to-air missiles.
The rebels are also known to
have obtained British-built Blow-
pipe surface-to-air missiles and
Swiss-made 20mm Oerlikon and
Chinese-built 14.5mm Ziguyac an-
tiaircraft weapons. Stingers first
reached the battlefield in relatively
small numbers early this fall, ac-.
cording to U.S. sources close to the
resistance movement.
What difference the Stingers may
have made to the ability of the reb-
els to deal with Soviet- and Afghan-
flown aircraft, particularly heavily
armored helicopters, remains un-
clear.
The report said that in the con-
flict's seven years, the rebels have
shot down "nearly 1,000" aircraft,
mostly helicopters.
Whitehead said that despite a
more intensive and sophisticated
Soviet effort "on all fronts-
military, political and diplomatic"
the Afghan resistance had gained in
strength through the summer and
fall and ended the year "in a strong
military position."
The report said the Soviets had
"drastically" revised military tactics
the past year, abandoning use of
large-unit sweep operations. in favor
of smaller operations often employ-
ing helicopter assault troops.
Soviet casualties were "at least
3,000" through the fall of this year,.
the report said, bringing Soviet
losses since 1979 to "at least
30,000-35,000, more than one
third of whom were killed."
Whitehead said the Soviet-backed.
Kabul government has been unable
to consolidate power except in ar-
eas controlled by Soviet forces. Ef-
forts by the Soviets last May to gain
legitimacy for their "puppet govern-
ment" with the replacement of
Babrak Karmal by Mohammed Na-
jibullah, have intensified "without
notable success," Whitehead said.
The rebel alliance of seven guer-
rilla factions also has had problems,
according to Whitehead. Internal
political divisions hampered the al-
liance's effectiveness "in making its
case to the world," but it is moving
to improve "practical cooperation"
among the factions, he said. .
Whitehead noted that Pakistan,
where 3 million Afghan refugees
live and which serves as a rear base
for the rebels, came under in-
creased Soviet "intimidation" this
past year.
There were more than 700 air
violations of Pakistani territory by
"communist aircraft," a threefold
increase over 1985, and incidents of
artillery bombardment jumped by
almost 500 percent, Whitehead
said.
L11
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/05/04: CIA-RDP90-00965R000604900023-1