800123
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800123
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Soviets, East Germans running Afghanistan
By BARRY SCHWEID
Oregonian JAN 23, 1980
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Thousands of Soviet bureaucrats have moved into Afghanistan to run the government and East German intelligence agents are helping to operate the security system, administration sources disclosed Tuesday.
Afghan administrators are being dismissed and, in some cases, executed, as the Soviets attempt to tighten their hold on the pro-Moscow government of Babrak Karmal, the sources said.
State Department spokesman Hodding Carter said, meanwhile, that the Soviets were airlifting more troops into the country now that Kabul airport has reopened after a severe snowfall. He said there were some 85,000 Soviet troops in Afghanistan.
The sources, who asked not to be identified, said the Soviets have taken over direction of the Foreign Ministry and security, with East German intelligence agents assuming the role they also play in South Yemen and Angola.
Moslem guerrilla resistance to the Soviet intervention is persisting, Carter said. He said that while intelligence reports are sketchy, Soviet casualties in the monthlong penetration of the Moslem country may have reached 2,000.
The Soviets have had advisers in the country for about two years, trying to influence succeeding Marxist governments toward a more pro-Moscow line.
Since last month's overthrow of President Hafizullah Amin and his succession by Babrak, viewed by the Carter administration as a puppet, the Soviets have assumed a more prominent position in governmental operations.
"The advisers are being a lot more active, and the new administrators have joined them," said one U.S. official who asked not to be identified.
President Carter has called the Soviet thrust into Afghanistan "the most serious threat to world peace since the Second World War."
In an address Wednesday night he is expected to announce a series of measures he hopes will contain Soviet expansion in Southwest Asia.
According to some reports, the Soviets have been training Baluchi tribesmen to foment dissent in neighboring Pakistan. However, a State Department statement said officials could not "confirm with any degree of specificity either that such training is taking place or, if it is, where the training is being carried out."
The Baluchis are a restive minority in Iran and Afghanistan as well as Pakistan. Some analysts hold the view that Pakistan's central government could be subverted by exacerbating Baluchi unrest.
Jan. 23, 1980
Jeffrey Mishlove:
As you know, before Russia attacked Afghanistan I phoned you (and Dr. Monteith) and told you that my SIs told me to warn that the U.S. was in deadly danger, hour by hour, day by day in a way therefore non-existent. Either you or Henry asked and I said an immediate threat of World War Three. So I *warned before the fact.
Ted Owens
(PK Man)
*my SIs (or "The Phenome... I am very proud of Scott's book!
Soviets, East Germans running Afghanistan
By BARRY SCHWEID
Oregonian JAN 23, 1980
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Thousands of Soviet bureaucrats have moved into Afghanistan to run the government and East German intelligence agents are helping to operate the security system, administration sources disclosed Tuesday.
Afghan administrators are being dismissed and, in some cases, executed, as the Soviets attempt to tighten their hold on the pro-Moscow government of Babrak Karmal, the sources said.
State Department spokesman Hodding Carter said, meanwhile, that the Soviets were airlifting more troops into the country now that Kabul airport has reopened after a severe snowfall. He said there were some 85,000 Soviet troops in Afghanistan.
The sources, who asked not to be identified, said the Soviets have taken over direction of the Foreign Ministry and security, with East German intelligence agents assuming the role they also play in South Yemen and Angola.
Moslem guerrilla resistance to the Soviet intervention is persisting, Carter said. He said that while intelligence reports are sketchy, Soviet casualties in the monthlong penetration of the Moslem country may have reached 2,000.
The Soviets have had advisers in the country for about two years, trying to influence succeeding Marxist governments toward a more pro-Moscow line.
Since last month's overthrow of President Hafizullah Amin and his succession by Babrak, viewed by the Carter administration as a puppet, the Soviets have assumed a more prominent position in governmental operations.
"The advisers are being a lot more active, and the new administrators have joined them," said one U.S. official who asked not to be identified.
President Carter has called the Soviet thrust into Afghanistan "the most serious threat to world peace since the Second World War."
In an address Wednesday night he is expected to announce a series of measures he hopes will contain Soviet expansion in Southwest Asia.
According to some reports, the Soviets have been training Baluchi tribesmen to foment dissent in neighboring Pakistan. However, a State Department statement said officials could not "confirm with any degree of specificity either that such training is taking place or, if it is, where the training is being carried out."
The Baluchis are a restive minority in Iran and Afghanistan as well as Pakistan. Some analysts hold the view that Pakistan's central government could be subverted by exacerbating Baluchi unrest.
Jan. 23, 1980
Jeffrey Mishlove:
As you know, before Russia attacked Afghanistan I phoned you (and Dr. Monteith) and told you that my SIs told me to warn that the U.S. was in deadly danger, hour by hour, day by day in a way therefore non-existent. Either you or Henry asked and I said an immediate threat of World War Three. So I *warned before the fact.
Ted Owens
(PK Man)
*my SIs (or "The Phenome... I am very proud of Scott's book!
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“800123,” Archive Home, accessed August 12, 2026, https://www.pkman.org/archive/items/show/691.