Troops Could Face Missiles U.S. Sent Afghanistan in ‘80s

When the Reagan administration made a controversial decision to send shoulder-fired missiles to Afghan rebels in 1986, critics warned the move could come back to haunt the United States.

In the hands of an anti-American guerrilla, then-Sen. Dennis DeConcini (D-Ariz.) cautioned, a Stinger missile could instantly turn a U.S. aircraft “into a bright orange inferno.”

Soon, that warning may seem prescient.

Taliban forces in Afghanistan still have about 100 U.S.-supplied Stingers, according to U.S. intelligence estimates, and the weapons are potentially well suited to destroy the helicopters that are expected to soon begin ferrying U.S. special forces troops into the country.

Though some of the missiles probably are defective because of age or rough handling, some military officials believe others continue to pose a deadly threat. In addition, the ruling Taliban regime has purchased later-model Russian versions of the same weapon.

Experts note that the Afghans used them with such skill against the Soviets in the 1980s that the Stingers acquired the deadliest record against low-flying aircraft of any weapon since World War II.

The Taliban “does know how to use them,” said Clifford Beal, editor of Jane’s Defense Weekly, in London.

Countermeasures Are Available

Developed by the Army in the 1980s, the Stinger is a 35-pound shoulder-mounted missile that uses an infrared sensor to locate an aircraft by the heat it emits. The 5-foot-long missile travels at twice the speed of sound and destroys its target with fragmentation explosives.

The missile functions at low altitudes--less than about 4,500 feet--and is not effective against aircraft traveling at low altitudes but high speed. U.S. forces have several countermeasures that can work against Stingers, such as the use of decoys. And the missiles are not as effective in night fighting.

Even so, they pose such a threat that the U.S. government in the 1990s organized a buyback program that offered as much as $100,000 each for the weapons. Some were returned, but many were not, as Afghan fighters consider them an effective weapon as well as a status symbol.

Beal said that, when U.S. officials tested some of the recovered Stingers, they found they still were viable.

Only this month, U.S. officials asked Pakistani authorities whether they had any information about 80 Stingers that are unaccounted for, and are believed to be in the hands of the Taliban.

In the 1980s, the U.S. government was sharply divided as to whether the potential benefits of distributing the weapons to guerrilla allies in places such as Afghanistan and Angola outweighed the risks that they someday could be used against the United States and allied countries.

Proved to Be a Big Factor Against Soviets

The Stingers quickly proved their value when they were sent abroad.

By December 1986, only three months after the weapons began reaching Afghan rebels, U.N. officials were estimating that the moujahedeen--Muslim resistance fighters--were destroying one Soviet aircraft a day. Because of the continuing toll they took, some analysts have given Stingers credit for turning the tide of the war against the Soviets.

In the coming engagements, U.S. special operations teams are expected to be combing Afghanistan’s rocky valleys and ravines for Osama bin Laden and the fighters who belong to his Al Qaeda network. Such operations will force them to fly low over their targets; in the 1980s, the Soviets often were forced to shift from high-altitude to low-altitude flights to find their rebel targets in the rough terrain.

A Stinger’s effective range is about three miles. At the outside of that range, Beal said, they are far less accurate and are more easily fooled by decoys and are subject to motor failure, for example. But at close range they are highly accurate.

The missiles are packed to remain in good condition in storage, and many may exceed their expected shelf life, Beal said. While the missiles’ batteries may lose power, they are easily replaced, analysts say.

Beal said a key question is how well U.S. forces have improved the countermeasures they use against Stingers.

U.S. aircraft carry decoy rockets that are fired at intervals to provide a heat source that fools the Stinger. The military also has developed powerful strobe lights that throw off the Stingers’ sensors.

And U.S. forces can make it tougher for Stinger operators by flying at night. If the Stinger operator can’t see the approaching aircraft and launches the missile at an angle that takes it far from the aircraft, the chances of hitting the target are greatly reduced.

Analysts warn that U.S. aircraft also will be at risk because of the hundreds of antiaircraft guns held by the Taliban.

U.S. officials stress, however, that there is a lot they don’t know about the Taliban’s military capacity, and its air defenses in particular.

Rear Adm. Craig Quigley, a Pentagon spokesman, told reporters Thursday that “generally speaking, we know the Taliban has anti-air capabilities.” But he added, “It’s not at all clear what the capabilities of their systems are.”