Word: najibullah
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...shattered Afghanistan, the outlook ahead is far grimmer: more war, more bloodshed, more despair. With 1 million dead, 2 million uprooted from their homes and another 5 million claiming temporary asylum in neighboring countries, Afghanistan is bracing for a duel to the death between Najibullah's shaky regime and the U.S.-backed mujahedin rebels. No one knows whether the Soviets will mount cross-border air raids to thwart the rebels' designs, or if Washington intends to keep open its not-so-covert arms pipeline through Pakistan to the rebels. But even if the superpowers bow out entirely, both sides...
...that convened in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi last Friday. The 526-member council is composed of representatives from the seven- party mujahedin alliance that operates out of Pakistan and the eight mujahedin parties based in Iran. Their aim is to designate an interim - government that would supplant the Najibullah regime. But last week's meeting, attended by 420 delegates, gave little cause for optimism. The council's session lasted just 40 minutes, then disintegrated into chaos over the question of just how much power should be allocated to the Tehran-based groups. At week's end the shura...
Even if by some miracle the squabbling mujahedin political leaders and their allied military field commanders reach agreement, their determined resistance to any Communist representation in the new government all but ensures that Najibullah will continue to struggle for his political life. Last week, his voice cracking uncharacteristically, Najibullah proclaimed, "God is with us. The people are with us. We will win the war." But the extent of the President's fear was evident as the regime summoned the 30,000 members of the ruling People's Democratic Party who have been newly armed with automatic rifles and are intended...
...moment, Afghanistan's major cities remain in government hands, thanks largely to massive Soviet bombing attacks in recent weeks. But no one expects Najibullah's tenuous grip on the country to hold for long. Rebel commanders in the field, who sense that a military victory is within reach, are not going to let that long-sought opportunity slip away. The only remaining question seems to be precisely how they will take the cities. Full- scale assaults are tempting, but the mujahedin insurgents fear that the civilian toll may be high and that a successful attack may draw Soviet retribution from...
...very long. The ruling party, these analysts conclude, will hang itself. "The rot within the ((ruling party)) is already pronounced," says a State Department official. "It will only get worse after the Soviets are gone." According to U.S. officials, contingency plans are already in place for the evacuation of Najibullah and as many as 5,000 members of his party to Moscow...