Soviets Reported Leaving Afghan Cities

Soviet forces have started to withdraw from larger Afghan cities crucial to the Soviet-backed government’s defense of the country, according to Western intelligence reports.

Troops are withdrawing from Gardez and Ghazni in the southeast, Kandahar in the south and Herat in the far west, Western diplomatic reports reaching Pakistan from Kabul on Tuesday said.

Western military sources said the gradual withdrawal of Soviet forces poses a serious threat to the morale of government troops left alone to face guerrillas. The reports, quoting usually reliable Afghan sources, said desertions of government troops have increased.

Government forces are now demanding to be withdrawn from the southeastern border town of Khost, which has held out against the guerrillas since Soviet forces arrived to support Kabul in 1979 and now appears threatened, they said.

Local guerrilla commanders said they will take Khost in two months. Western diplomats said it might be earlier.

Diplomats said guerrilla rocket attacks on Kabul over the past week have been the heaviest so far this year. They said the guerrillas may be using a more powerful type of rocket with a longer range.

The diplomats supported guerrilla claims that the insurgents now control virtually all of the strategic Panjshir Valley north of Kabul. The Salang Highway, a major Soviet withdrawal route, runs through part of the valley, but the insurgents say they are letting the Soviets pass without attacking.

Under an accord signed in April, the Soviets agreed to withdraw their more than 100,000 troops from Afghanistan, starting May 15.

The guerrillas, headquartered in Peshawar, Pakistan, say they are continuing to hammer Afghan troops left behind in the first stage of the pullout, but diplomatic sources said the Communist forces have started fighting back.

Soviet-Afghan aircraft have conducted intensive bombing raids on positions recently overrun by insurgents in the eastern province of Paktia bordering Pakistan, sources said.