Sealing a Border

With weapons of total war

Poison gas attacks. Napalm. Strafing by jets. Random executions of women and children.

According to tribesmen fleeing across the mountainous terrain into Pakistan last week, these are among the weapons and methods of total war that the Soviets are now using to subdue Afghanistan. The unanimity of the witnesses' accounts--even allowing for some exaggeration--left little doubt that the Soviets were attempting to sanitize and seal the most porous part of the border with Pakistan by wiping out rebel resistance in Afghanistan's Kunar and Nangarhar provinces. Said one Pakistani official who has been trying to aid the nearly 600,000 refugees in his country: "Afghans arriving from Paktia, which is 100 miles away, say that helicopters are coming in and killing everything. We believe that the Soviets are trying to create a 25-km buffer zone along the border."

Chemical warfare is playing an important role in Moscow's effort to subdue Afghanistan, according to both refugees and Western intelligence agents. One weapon is an 18-in.-long cylinder that emits a paralyzing gas as it hits the ground. If it is inhaled at a distance of 100 yds., the gas immobilizes its victims and leads to uncontrollable retching. At close range, it attacks the central nervous system and causes death. Even more feared by the Afghans is a napalm-like substance fashioned into tiny, marble-sized balls that is spewed from helicopter rocket pods. The sticky little balls cling to everything from beards and headdresses to animals and buildings. Unsuspecting children often pick them up, until they learn that the balls are impossible to fling off. They apparently ignite from exposure to the atmosphere and within minutes burst into flames.

Although they retain control of the rugged Hindu Kush region, the rebel guerrillas have suffered heavy casualties since the Soviet invasion last December. Intelligence experts believe the casualty ratio is about six mujahidin (holy warriors) to one Soviet soldier. Thus far an estimated 30,000 mujahidin have been killed or wounded. Last week leaders of five rebel groups met in the Pakistani border city of Peshawar to form yet another loosely structured "united front." Their aim: to seek financial support for more arms. One group sent representatives to mosques throughout Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province, hoping to collect $20,000 for local gunsmiths to build portable armor-piercing guns; the rebels do not have conventional antitank weapons. With only homemade weaponry and local generosity to rely upon, it was uncertain how long the insurgency could hold out against Moscow's 80,000 well-armed troops.

Fearful of Soviet incursions across the border, Pakistan is trying to feed and house the refugees, but denies arming or training the rebels. British officials are preparing a proposal for a joint program of aid by the European Community, the U.S. and the United Nations. London fears that the Islamabad government might begin ordering the refugees back across the border and forbid the rebels to regroup and pick up new arms shipments in Pakistan.

Concern about arousing Moscow's enmity was one of the reasons why Pakistan, earlier this month, turned down a proposed $400 million U.S. aid package. Pakistani officials complained that the $200 million in military credits offered by the U.S. in the overall package was worse than nothing, since it would be totally insufficient to deter a Soviet threat. "What do I buy with $200 million?" asked Pakistani Strongman General Mohammed Zia ul-Haq. "The hostility of the Soviet Union, and that does not suit me." He later hinted that he might soon visit Moscow to shore up relations.

Meanwhile, some American officials were privately relieved that the help had been spurned, even though they worry that Pakistan may become the Soviets' next target of opportunity. Their reasoning: the U.S. had been spared an alliance with a repressive, unpopular military dictator whose regime has only a modest chance of survival. Last week there were reports--vehemently denied by the Islamabad government--that some army officers had launched an attempted coup against Zia and failed.

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