From: "Stasi" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [Peoples War] Afghanistan: Battle-Hardened, Fully Armed - And Ready to Die - Guardian Battle-hardened, fully armed - and ready to die =============================== Special report: Afghanistan Special report: terrorism in the US Luke Harding Tuesday September 18, 2001 The Guardian If US troops ever set foot inside Afghanistan they will find themselves confronted with a battle-hardened enemy at home in the Hindu Kush mountains and with a formidable array of weapons - many provided by America. Back in the 1980s, as the cold war intensified, the CIA poured in money and military equipment to the various Mojahedin groups who were fighting the invading Soviet Union. In 1986 and1987 the US covertly provided the Afghan resistance with some 900 Stinger missiles. The Taliban emerged out of the Mojahedin after the Russians left in 1989, and inherited most of the Mojahedin's military hardware, including an estimated 50 unused Stingers. It is something of an irony that the shoulder-held missiles could now be deployed against the country that supplied them. The bulk of the military hardware now used by the Taliban, however, was left behind by the retreating Soviet army in its hasty departure from Afghanistan. The Taliban have an unknown number of old Soviet T-59 and 55 tanks. They also have artillery guns with 130-155 calibre, as well as innumerable rocket launchers and ancient machine guns. Pakistani security officials with extensive knowledge of the Taliban's existing military resources last night said the Taliban have enough arms and ammunition to engage any army of the world in a protracted guerrilla fight. They are equipped with 12.7mm and 14.5mm anti-aircraft guns, as well as a large number of anti-tank missiles. They also have plenty of fuel. The Taliban army consists of anything from 20,000-40,000 troops. They have been well trained over the past five years in crushing the remaining pockets of opposition inside Afghanistan. More than a third of the army is made up of "foreign" Islamist militants who have volunteered to fight in the jihad against the opposition. They include an estimated 8,000-9,000 Pakistanis; some 3,000 Arabs who owe their allegiance to Osama bin Laden, as well as volunteers from Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Chechnya. The Taliban even has three MiG aircraft, also left behind by the Soviets. The MiGs have recently been used on devastating bombing runs against opposition-held positions in northern Afghanistan. They were the target of an opposition attack on Kabul airport last week. Increasingly, the Taliban have also taken to using the fleet of Antonovs, belonging to the country's dilapidated civilian airline, to ferry troops. But the main advantage Taliban fighters have over any invading American ground force is that they know the terrain. They are equipped with Toyata pick-ups (supplied by Saudi Arabia) and drive in battle formation at high speeds across Afghanistan's atrocious roads. The fighters sit in the trucks, usually on top of rocket launchers covered with Afghan carpets. They have walkie-talkies. And they are prepared to die. http://www.guardian.co.uk/wtccrash/story/0,1300,553661,00.html _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________
