Afghan Rebels Capture City

The Afghan government acknowledged Friday that moujahedeen rebels captured the provincial capital of Tarin Kot in central Afghanistan.

More than 24 hours after the moujahedeen said they had overrun the small provincial capital in Uruzgan province, Gen. Nabi Azimi, senior deputy defense minister, said in Kabul that the 500-man garrison in the city had fallen.

Military experts said this was the first time rebels had wrested control of a provincial town or city from the government since the Soviet troop withdrawal from Afghanistan in February, 1989.

“Our troops had staunchly defended the city for 20 months after the Soviet military withdrawal from Afghanistan,” Azimi told a news conference.

“We lost the provincial capital because of the betrayal of the governor and his close associates, as well as because of the interference by the Pakistan military, who have been supplying new weapons to the armed extremists in a bid to capture one of the cities inside Afghanistan,” he said.

Western and Pakistan-backed Muslim guerrillas have been fighting to oust the Soviet-backed government since Moscow sent troops into Afghanistan 11 years ago.

Azimi accused the Uruzgan governor of treachery.

The government would try soon to recapture the provincial capital, he said.