New Delhi, India: Afghan rebels launched a major offensive in the strategic Panjshir valley this month, capturing a Soviet military base in fighting that left hundreds of soldiers dead, Western diplo mats said Tuesday.
The diplomats said Islamic guerrillas commanded by Ahmad Shah Massoud attacked and seized the Soviet military base at Preshghar in the Panjshir valley north of Kabul, two diplomats said.
“Reports of activity have been very confused but the general position appears to be that Massoud’s forces have undertaken a major offensive against Afghan posts and encampments on the valley floor,” said one diplomat.
Both diplomats, who spoke on condition they not be named, said Soviet and Afghan troops were forced to withdraw from the base. A 400strong detachment was sent to recapture the base, one diplomat said, but most of the Afghan troops defected to the rebel side.
The reports could not be independently confirmed. Foreign reporters are not officially permitted inside Afghanistan, where Islamic rebels have been fighting an estimated 115,000 Soviet occupation troops since Moscow’s 1979 invasion.
The diplomats said the guerrillas captured an Afghan general and forced him to call more reinforcements into a rebel trap, the diplomats said. Another 1,000 Afghan troops were ambushed as they came up the valley, they said.
“Up to 700 soldiers were killed, wounded or captured,” one diplomat said. The other said casualties were “extremely high,” but cautioned that she was unable to assess the reliability of her source.
“We doubt that the generals of the Soviet army will be able to allow the situation in Panjshir to deter further,” said one diplomat.
“The Panjshir may become the target of another Soviet thrust very soon,” he said.
The valley opens onto the vital road link between Kabul and the Soviet Union, providing an ideal base for rebel attacks on Soviet supply lines. Seven major Soviet Afghan offensives have failed to dislodge the rebels from the valley.
In other fighting, one diplomat said Soviet troops backed by 250 armored vehicles surrounded a village 6 miles from Kabul on July 4 in a search for Afghan rebels.
“The Soviets then killed over 200 villagers in apparent reprisal for past (rebel) attacks on Soviet units,” the diplomat said. The diplomat could not name the village and his report was not confirmed by the other diplomat.
In Herat, about 410 miles west of Kabul, the diplomats reported that rebels killed 35 troops and Soviet helicopter attacks left more than 100 civilians dead when “heavy fighting” broke out July 3, both diplomats said.
“Up to 700 soldiers were killed, wounded or captured,” one diplomat said. The other said casualties were “extremely high,” but cautioned that she was unable to assess the reliability of her source.
“We doubt that the generals of the Soviet army will be able to allow the situation in Panjshir to deter further,” said one diplomat.
Article extracted from this publication >> July 26, 1985
