ISLAMABAD, Nov. 12, Reuter: Afghan authorities said on Thursday they had bought a US. Made stinger antiaircraft missile from rebels who had a band need their guerrilla struggle.
The official Kabul radio said the shoulder held weapon, widely reported to have shot down many, Soviet and Afghan aircraft, was handed over recently together with a British made blowpipe missile.
The purchases were made under an October 10 decree permitting the security forces to buy weapons from rebels giving up their nine year old struggle against the Kabul government and the Soviet troops supporting it.
Kabul radio, monitored in Islamabad, said hundreds of weapons, including 10 missiles, had been purchased from rebel detachments and individuals.
Western diplomats in Islamabad say that stingers, supplied through Pakistan from 1986, had succeeded in partly neutralizing K bull’s control of the air and given & huge boost to rebel morale.
Article extracted from this publication >> November 20, 1987
