Unite to Topple Afghan Regime, Leader of Coup Bid Urges Rebels

The leader of last week’s coup attempt against the pro-Moscow regime in Kabul says he is continuing the struggle and appealed to his supporters and to Afghan guerrillas to unite and overthrow President Najibullah.

“My supporters are still fighting Najibullah,” former Defense Minister Shahnawaz Tanai told about 30 journalists Wednesday at a guerrilla base near Dobanday, about 40 miles southeast of Kabul.

Tanai repeated charges that the initial coup attempt March 6 failed because Soviet planes bombed his headquarters at Bagram air base, 30 miles north of Kabul.

The news conference was held in a huge cave in a snow-capped mountainside. The base of the Hezb-i-Islami resistance group of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar was guarded by about 50 guerrillas armed with anti-aircraft guns and U.S.-supplied Stinger missiles.

Tanai addressed the journalists along with three other coup leaders, former air force chief Abdul Qadir Aqa, former army communications chief Brig. Gen. Ghulam Hazarat and former Politburo member Niaz Mohammed Mohmand. The three officers wore their Afghan military uniforms.

In last week’s coup attempt, rebel military units bombed Kabul, including the presidential palace, and fought street battles with forces loyal to Najibullah. It was the most serious threat to Najibullah’s regime since the withdrawal 13 months ago of Soviet troops supporting the government.

Official and Western diplomatic sources in Islamabad, Pakistan, said Tanai and about 20 other generals fled to Pakistan on March 7 as the coup failed.

Tanai, a short man in his 40s with a thick mustache, conceded that he had lost contact with some of his supporters, but said, “I am trying to re-establish communications and mobilize my people against the regime.”

“I appeal to all the moujahedeen (guerrillas), my soldiers and all my supporters to join hands and defeat Najibullah,” he said.

He reiterated his assertion that he and his fellow coup leaders were not seeking political power but had hoped to end the war and hold elections within six months.