Word: arabia
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Reagan's reply to all these concerns was to strike an attitude of poised calm, even when taking firm action. The President last week invoked his emergency powers to sell Saudi Arabia 400 shoulder-fired Stinger antiaircraft missiles and to provide a fourth aerial tanker, a KC-10, that can refuel Saudi fighters in flight. The moves were intended to help the Saudis protect shipping from Iranian air assault in the Persian Gulf. Kuwait promptly made an unofficial request for Stingers; the U.S. suggested it turn to European suppliers...
...meantime, Saudi Arabia is trying to exert some influence over Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, who began the tanker attacks earlier this year as a way of forcing Khomeini to enter into peace negotiations. But Saddam Hussein will not lift his siege of Iran as long as Khomeini seems set on toppling Iraq's government...
...Director William Casey told a top aide early on. Says a senior intelligence official: "Ideally, the pipeline had to be invisible, passing through Pakistan without the Pakistanis' being aware that it was there." As a result, much of the operation is handled with the help of Saudi Arabia, which grows increasingly alarmed as Soviet airbases draw ever closer to its oilfields. The Saudis' support for the guerrillas is by no means covert; only six weeks ago, Crown Prince Abdullah encouragingly assured Afghan refugees in Pakistan, "Your struggle is a jihad [holy war] because you have taken up arms...
Some 30 Afghan agents took up positions in Saudi Arabia, working for small companies that handled the shipment of cargo to Asia. There they were put in charge of sending out electronic equipment, sewing machines and fertilizers, as well as religious materials going to far-flung Muslims in Malaysia, Indonesia and, of course, Pakistan. To these regular shipments, the Afghans would sometimes add a few cases of arms, specially coded for quick detection by their colleagues. "We began modestly, because we were new to the game," one recruit says. "But as we got the hang of it, we were gradually...
...also taken care to set up swift and secure communication links with and among the rebels. Upon receiving intelligence, intermediaries in Oman and Saudi Arabia relay messages east ward to Afghan agents in Pakistan and westward to CIA headquarters in Langley, Va. Two years ago, the six major guerrilla group within Afghanistan had to communicate by messenger; during the latest Soviet assault, Massoud was able to use radios to call for assistance from two other rebel bands...