The World - News from Oct. 30, 1986
An Afghan army colonel announced at a news conference in Islamabad, Pakistan, that he has defected to the Muslim rebels fighting Afghanistan’s Soviet-backed government. Mir Hashmatullah, 43, deputy commander of a division stationed between Kabul and the Pakistan border, told reporter that he has turned against the Communists since the Soviet military intervention in 1979. He said Afghan soldiers do not want to fight the Muslim rebels and that army relations with the Soviet forces in the country are poor.
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