Word: kabul
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...running at a dozen a day, many carrying Soviet soldiers home. Two large Soviet bases north of the city are deserted. The main Soviet hospital has been turned over to Afghans, and Moscow has reduced its embassy staff by two-thirds, to about 100 people. Soviet infantrymen still patrol Kabul's streets, but they expect to be home within days. "It was a mistake to come here," says a trooper in the central shopping area. "And we are never coming back. It is up to the Afghan people to find a solution to their problems...
Political solutions are not uppermost in the minds of most of the 2.2 million residents of Kabul. They are worrying about day-to-day survival. The winter has been unusually harsh. With the exception of the Salang Highway, roads into the city are cut, resulting in shortages of bread, diesel fuel, sugar, kerosene and other basics; electricity is available only part of the time. The Kabul grain silo, which usually holds a stock of 20,000 tons, has been empty at several points in the past few weeks. The poor are especially vulnerable because they cannot afford to shop...
...line with its pledge to keep the regime well armed, Moscow has in recent weeks been sending into Kabul large shipments of weapons and ammunition, including such advanced hardware as the BTR-70 armored car and the BM-22 rocket launcher. Western diplomats in Kabul believe that in the end the resupply effort will make little difference. Says one: "They can have all the fancy hardware they like, but it is the morale of the troops that's critical...
...most immediate military concern focuses on the Salang. The Soviets have been able to keep the route open by combining military muscle with diplomacy. Outposts dot the way. Soviet officers had an informal understanding with Ahmad Shah Massoud, the powerful mujahedin commander in the Panjshir Valley, north of Kabul: safe passage for Soviet vehicles as long as Moscow keeps up the withdrawal. After last week's offensive by Soviet and Afghan troops, that arrangement may be finished...
...proliferation of guns in America. Shrewd connection, but wrong. That's New Delhi bureau chief Edward W. Desmond, who has seen his share of these weapons and the wars they fuel in south Asia since his arrival last October. Two weeks ago, Desmond managed to fly to Kabul, the Afghan capital, which faces a turbulent future as Soviet soldiers withdraw and the rebels move in. The nine- year-old war has proved a special challenge to Western reporters who have sneaked in, flown in under fire and otherwise struggled to report a story purposely shrouded in mystery. Desmond's first...