Soviets Form ‘Ring of Steel’ to Defend Afghan Cities

Soviet artillery thundered in the distant hills, near the border with Iran. But the Shia Muslims of this ancient city in the northwest corner of Afghanistan gathered for evening prayers, as they have for more than a thousand years, in the majestic Masjid-i-Jami Mosque.

Not far away, the main market in the Old City throbbed with activity as shoppers bought rhubarb, lamb, rice and raisins for the evening meal. It was the fifth day of the Ramadan fast, a period during which the Muslim faithful are prohibited from eating or drinking anything during daylight hours.

War Continues Unabated

In the countryside, the seven-year war that pits Soviet and Afghan government forces against moujahedeen rebels continues unabated. But people in Herat and Kabul--Western reporters were permitted to visit both cities this week--say the fighting is much diminished, particularly in the last six months.

Soviet strategy is to secure and pacify the two cities by throwing up “ring of steel” defenses around them. The strategy appears to be working, though at a huge cost in terms of men and materiel.

The defensive effort appears to be borne largely by the estimated 115,000 Soviet troops in this country, not the Afghan army. In Herat, Soviet troops were seen this week guarding key bridges and the 10 miles of road from the airport with T-62 tanks positioned at quarter-mile intervals.

On Tuesday morning, reporters saw two large Soviet supply convoys, each of more than 100 big tractor-trailer trucks, moving into Herat on the road from Kandahar, a major city 200 miles southeast of Herat. As at Kabul, the capital, the Herat airport was busy with Soviet and Afghan cargo aircraft.

In Kabul, the Soviet perimeter defenses are less obvious than in Herat. But tanks are visible on the roads outside. The nearby resort town of Paghman, once the scene of fierce fighting, appears to have been pacified; many of the villas that once graced the town are in ruins.

Damage Reports Questioned

Damage to Herat and the war’s overall impact on the city appeared to be much less than Western diplomats have indicated in reports based on information gathered in Kabul and on information supplied by refugees in Pakistan.

The U.S. State Department said in a report last December: “Destruction may have been worse in Herat than in any other city. Soviet bombardments have seriously damaged centuries-old, internationally renowned monuments.”

But on Monday and Tuesday reporters found that all the important monuments were still standing and mostly intact. Although they were not permitted to inspect the Musallah Minarets, which date to the early 15th Century, they could see from a distance that all six were standing.

For the past year, moujahedeen commanders operating out of Peshawar, across the frontier in Pakistan, have complained that the Soviet defensive rings of armor and artillery have blunted their efforts--among them Abdul Haq, a commander known for his operations in the Kabul area.

Before the war, nearly 80% of Afghanistan’s 15 million people lived in rural areas. But in the seven years since the war began, about 3 million have fled to neighboring Pakistan and Iran, emptying great areas of the countryside. Others have taken refuge in the cities.

If the Soviet and Afghan government forces can maintain control of the cities, Western diplomats here say, they can control as much as 50% of the population, though as little as 15% of the land.

Mohammed Khalil Sepoy, secretary of the Herat Provincial Committee of the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan, the Soviet-backed ruling party, told the reporters:

“The situation is normal in Herat. We still have some problems with regard to security. Sometimes opposing groups . . . loot the people. But most of the time nothing happens, especially in Herat itself.”

Signs of Normalcy

Sepoy, who like an increasing number of Afghan party officials was educated in the Soviet Union and speaks fluent Russian, cited as signs of a return to normalcy the repairs being made to the city’s streets and the recent completion of a 200-bed hospital.

The hospital has been supplied with Soviet medicines and equipment. A senior official there, Dr. Fraidoun Ashk, said the number of war-related patients has fallen off sharply, from about five a day two years ago to 10 a week.

Ashk confirmed that the hospital had been damaged in February by a rebel mortar attack. Western diplomatic sources had reported this weeks earlier. Ashk said the attack was unusual, and “from far away.” He said a hospital medical technician was killed in the attack. Windows in one wing, shattered by the mortar fire, were still out Tuesday when three American reporters called at the hospital.

Caught in Crossfire

Several patients said they had been wounded in villages miles away. Gous Ahmed, a boy of 12, said he and a group of companions were playing on the roof of his home in a village 18 miles from Herat when they were caught in crossfire between rebels and government forces. One boy was killed, Ahmed said. Ahmed himself was wounded in the thigh.

Party workers assigned to escort the reporters through Herat sought to limit their questioning of patients and, in general, to rule out any reference to the war. As for the artillery booming throughout the day and night, they either pretended they did not hear it or described it as thunder or “soldiers practicing.”

They allowed the reporters to tour the city but refused to permit a short trip to the Musallah Minarets outside the city. They said the road had been mined by the rebels--the “opposing forces,” they called them.

At the Masjid-i-Jami Mosque, which was once the center of Islamic scholarship, scaffolding has been put up on one side in order to repair damage caused by a rocket attack in 1985. Fourteen people were killed in the attack.

Haji Abdullah, custodian of the mosque, said there have been no attacks since. On only one occasion, he said, has he seen rebels of the moujahedeen, and they had come to pray.