Soviet Casualties in Afghanistan Rising Due to U.S. Arms, Kremlin Aide Says

Soviet servicemen in Afghanistan have suffered heavier casualties since the United States began supplying modern weapons to Muslim guerrillas, a Soviet Foreign Ministry spokesman said Thursday.

Those weapons “created additional difficulties for Afghan army and Soviet troops,” deputy spokesman Boris Pyadyshev said at a regular government briefing. “This led to additional casualties among Afghan and Soviet troops and the air force.”

Diplomatic sources in Kabul have estimated the guerrillas are shooting down an average of one aircraft a day with anti-aircraft missiles, primarily the U.S. made, hand-held Stinger.

But Pyadyshev’s statement apparently marked the first time the Soviets have admitted that they were suffering increased casualties because of the modern weapons.

He said the Soviet and Afghan forces are putting new measures into effect to counter the guerrillas’ updated weapons but didn’t specify what they were.

The Kremlin doesn’t release figures on Soviet casualties in the Afghan conflict.

Western and Afghan guerrilla sources say that, since last fall, the rebels have received 300 Stingers. They have also received British radar-guided Blowpipe missiles.

The Soviet Union sent soldiers into Afghanistan in 1979 to prop up the communist government. An estimated 115,000 Soviet soldiers are in Afghanistan.

Pyadyshev praised the announcement by Afghan leader Najib on Wednesday that he was extending the government’s unilateral cease-fire, which went into effect Jan. 15. Rebel groups have rejected the cease-fire offer as a propaganda ploy.