Fierce Fight

Resisting the Soviet onslaught

Backed by armor and helicopter gunships, Soviet troops last week launched a fresh assault against Muslim rebels in eastern Afghanistan. The attacks included search-and-destroy missions against Afghan villages, the machine-gunning of unarmed civilians and even the dropping of incapacitating gas by Soviet gunships. Meanwhile, Western intelligence experts estimated, the Soviets have suffered at least 8,000 dead and wounded since last December's invasion. According to reports from Eastern Europe, some Soviet soldiers wounded in Afghanistan are now being flown directly to military hospitals in East Germany --presumably because the Kremlin does not want its own people to know the number of casualties in "Moscow's Viet Nam."

In the capital city of Kabul, there were rumors that insurgents had caused a landslide, killing 600 Afghan soldiers in a mountain encampment and destroying 40 tanks. A band of rebels reportedly crossed the border between Afghanistan and the U.S.S.R. and managed to kill 200 Soviet troops. The rebels also claimed to have exploded a newly completed copper mine in the Logar Valley and coal mines in Badakhshan. They have been putting pressure on farmers to cut back on spring planting. Partly for that reason, this year's grain crop will be only 75% of normal. When two grape growers pruned their vines, in violation of the rebels' orders, insurgents cut off the growers' ears.

The Soviets appear to be firmly in control of Kabul. Moscow-appointed advisers are in charge of most government offices, leaving Afghan employees, as one observer put it, with nothing to do but "sit around and drink tea." Outside the capital, the country is still in chaos. The exodus of refugees continues; there are an estimated 700,000 Afghans in Pakistan and 100,000 more in Iran. The demoralized Afghan army, which used to have 80,000 men, is down to 20,000 or 30,000 and suffers from the constant defection of soldiers to the rebel side.

The mujahidin (holy warriors) are limited by a lack of supplies, ammunition and even food, but they fight on with remarkable tenacity. On assignment for TIME, Photographer Steve McCurry accompanied a band of rebels on a raid near Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar province. About a mile from the University of Nangarhar, the rebels attacked a convoy of Afghan army trucks and captured three members of a military road-repair crew. Two tanks joined the skirmish on the army side, but the rebels fought on all afternoon, even after one of their number had been killed. That night, the rebels slipped away and marched for six hours to the village of their slain comrade. Next morning, before the burial ceremony for the dead rebel, they staged a "trial" and summarily executed their three prisoners. The charge: collaborating with the Soviet enemy. qed

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