U.S. May Sell AWACS Planes to Pakistan : Sending Aircraft to Patrol Afghan Border Also Being Studied

The United States is considering selling sophisticated early warning planes to Pakistan and temporarily sending U.S. planes to patrol near the tense border with Afghanistan, U.S. and Pakistani officials said Wednesday.

President Zia ul-Haq said in an interview that he wants the airborne warning systems, as well as the temporary help from the U.S. Air Force. American officials said that such assistance, intended to help spot Soviet and Afghan warplanes approaching from Afghanistan, would be the primary topic when Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger meets today with Pakistani officials.

Increasing the U.S. role here could prove to be politically difficult in the United States if it involved a specific U.S. military operation near the Afghan border.

Would Upset India

It could also prove to be troublesome in nonaligned Pakistan in the unlikely event that it involved even the temporary basing of U.S. aircraft here. Also, U.S. officials are aware that it would be likely to upset India, which is concerned about U.S. military support for its rival in South Asia.

But a U.S. official, indicating that the Reagan Administration will look favorably on Pakistan’s request, said that Pakistan is engaged in “a very serious struggle. . . . The need is immediate.”

U.S. officials, speaking on condition that they not be identified by name, portrayed any possible direct U.S. military operation in terms of an “exercise.” One said, “I don’t see that long-term deployments are an answer.”

They said that if such an operation is mounted, it will not be as extensive as the patrols over the Persian Gulf by U.S. Air Force AWACS (airborne warning and control system) planes, but that AWACS planes might be involved in some flights.

Flights From Persian Gulf

In the U.S. view, the most likely scenario in which U.S. planes would take part would involve flights of aircraft based in Oman, near the Persian Gulf. They would not land in Pakistan.

Zia said in the interview there is a possibility that American air crews would fly early warning missions, but Pakistan is “a bit allergic” to having the United States play such a role because Pakistan considers itself aligned with neither the West nor the Soviets.

Asked whether the United States had offered to place Air Force planes on the border, Zia said, “We have discussed this point at a working level.”

He was interviewed at his quarters by a small group of American reporters traveling with Weinberger on a 19-day global tour.

Pakistani officials say, and U.S. officials agree, that this nation needs an increased capability to spot Soviet aircraft approaching the border. Such assistance is emerging as the central element in a new, six-year, $1.8-billion U.S. weapons program under discussion here.

500 Soviet Incursions

According to U.S. officials, as of mid-July there had been more than 500 instances of Soviet aircraft entering Pakistani airspace this year, more than in all last year. More than 30% of these incursions were considered serious, involving the use of explosives, and some reached as far as 10 miles into Pakistan.

In the U.S. view, the increased Soviet activity over Pakistan is intended to persuade Pakistan to end its support for rebel forces in Afghanistan. About 3 million Afghan nationals are said to have taken refuge in Pakistan.

“It suggests that the Russians are beating up on the Pakistanis a lot more,” an American official said.

Pakistan has bought 40 F-16 jet fighters from the United States as part of a five-year, $1.6-billion arms package that is about to be completed. The F-16s are based at Sargodha, halfway to the Indian border from the Afghan-Pakistani border. They routinely fly patrols near Afghanistan, the official said.

Downed Soviet Plane

The official, speaking on the condition that he not be further identified, said that after a Pakistani F-16 shot down a Soviet SU-22 in May, the Soviet incursions tapered off.

U.S. and Pakistani officials agree that Pakistan needs an early warning system to give it time to get the F-16s off the runway and into the air to fend off Soviet aircraft, rather than taking their chances on running into the Soviets on routine patrols. A flying radar system would also help airborne F-16s spot Soviet airplanes in the distance, enhancing the capability of the fighters.

The mountainous terrain between Islamabad, the capital, and the border with Afghanistan about 150 miles to the northwest limits the effectiveness of ground radar units.

Zia conceded that the AWACS, a four-engine Boeing 707 equipped with radar capable of spotting airplanes in any direction, would be too expensive. It would also provide more extensive battle command capabilities than the situation would appear to require.

A more likely plane would be the Grumman E-2C or a modified version of the Lockheed P-3, or the “aerostat,” a tethered balloon carrying radar high enough to reach beyond the mountains.

Troop Withdrawal

The question of U.S. assistance for Pakistan’s air defense came up on the day the Soviets began the announced withdrawal of six regiments of about 6,000 men. There are believed to be about 120,000 Soviet troops in Afghanistan, supporting a Soviet-backed government fighting the moujahedeen guerrilla force.

(A convoy of hundreds of Soviet tanks, trucks and other military vehicles rolled through western Afghanistan on Wednesday as a tank regiment started the withdrawal, American wire services reported from the Soviet base at Shindand, Afghanistan. Afghan leader Najibullah brought 200 government officials and reporters, including many Westerners, to the base 60 miles from the Soviet border for an elaborate farewell ceremony.)

Zia, echoing the view of Weinberger that the withdrawal was a “ruse” to allow the Soviets to introduce new, specially trained troops while pulling out unneeded air defense and tank units, said Pakistani intelligence indicates that 15,000 new Soviet troops have been sent to Afghanistan in the last three months.