ISLAMABAD, Nov 26, Reuter: Moslem Guerrillas fighting Afghanistan’s Soviet-backed government said on Saturday they had recaptured a vital border post and had again closed the main road to Pakistan in the Khyber Pass.
Pakistani officials confirmed the report and said some of the Afghan government troops at the Torkham post had surrendered to the western-backed guerrillas on Friday.
Others had escaped into Pakistan, the officials added.
The rebels took the post and closed the border on November 2 but were driven out 11 days later in a major success for government forces after a series of reverses in Eastern Afghanistan:
Guerrilla sources said the troops surrendered without putting up a fight this time because they had not received any supplies in the last week.
The sources said the guerrillas had already cut off the 80-km (50 mile) road from Torkham to the provincial capital of Jalalabad.
A Pakistani official said road transport and Afghanistan through Torkham has been suspended for the last one and half months because of fighting in the area.
The rebels are advancing towards Jalalabad and are only 25 km (15 miles) from the town, the guerrilla sources said.
They said 60 soldiers and 124 militiamen had surrendered to the guerrillas with their weapons. A tank and two other military vehicles were also captured.
Government troops have pulled ‘out of several eastern border garrisons in recent months in what appeared to be a move to strengthen the defenses of Afghan cities.
Article extracted from this publication >> December 2, 1988
