U.S. Reports Soviet Flying Many
Troops to Afghan Conflict

BERNARD GWERTZMAN / New York Times 27dec79

World Condemnation Asked
Level of combat forces and country estimated at 6000 with five divisions along border

WASHINGTON, December 26—the United States said today that in the last twenty-four hours the Soviet Union had begun a round-the-clock airlift to Afghanistan, raising Soviet military involvement in that country "to a new threshold."

Underscoring Washington's growing concern over mounting signs of a direct Soviet con that role in the Civil War and Afghanistan, the State Department called the on the world community to condemn such blatant military interference into the internal affairs of an independent sovereign state."

Ranking Administration officials said that the latest airlift had quadrupled the number of Soviet combat troops and Afghanistan, raising the level to 6000 from an earlier 1500

In addition, the total of Soviet troops moved towards a Afghanistan border has grown from three divisions to five divisions, the officials said. There are 10,000 men in a Soviet division at full strength.

A Rare Deployment Abroad

This is the first time, Administration officials said, that the Soviet Union has deployed ground troops outside the Soviet bloc or Cuba since World War II. Until now, the officials said, the Russians have generally limited their military personnel outside the block to advisers, apart from involvement in Egypt's air defenses from 1970 until 1972.

Although American policymakers have been preoccupied since November 4 with a crisis over the Americans being held hostage in Iran, they have recently begun to pay more attention to the Soviet military moves to support the Marxist Government of President Hafizullah Amin and Afghanistan, to the east of Iran.

The Amin Government has been involved in an effort, fruitless so far, to put down insurgency around the country by Afghans opposed to the Marxist orientation of the Government.

The guerrillas seem to half, at the least, tacit support from Pakistan, which has not stop the insurgents from coming and going across its border. The concern here is that the Soviet Union may make a major military effort to crush the Afghanistan rebellion and then keep a large-scale presence in the country, producing a predominant Soviet military force in a traditionally sensitive area of the world.

It is a particular interest now because of the uncertainty about the situation in Iran, which borders on both Afghanistan and the Soviet Union.

Hodding Carter III, the State Department spokesman, said that in the last twenty-four hours there had been "a large-scale Soviet airlift" to Kabul International Airport, the main civilian field and Afghanistan.

There were 150 or more flights, Mr. Carter said, involving large AN-22 transports and smaller AN-12's. "Several hundred Soviet troops have been sent at the Kabul Airport and various kinds of field equipment have been flown in."

The spokesman declined to be precise, but officials said the total of Soviet combat troops and Afghanistan was as high as 6000, a significant jump from the 1500 estimated last week. There are also believed to be 3500 to 4000 Soviet military advisers, distinct from combat troops.

Border Buildup Continuing

"The Soviet military buildup north of the Afghan border is continuing," the spokesman said.

"We now have indications that there are at the equivalent of five divisions in Soviet areas adjacent to Afghanistan," he went on.

"It appears that the Soviets are crossing a new threshold in their military deployments into Afghanistan," Mr. Carter said. "We believe that members of the international community should condemn such blatant military interference in the internal affairs of an independent sovereign state."

The spokesman said that the United States would again raised its concern directly with the Russians. One official insisted in private that there was a difference between the Soviet involvement and Afghanistan and earlier American involvement in such places as South Vietnam.

He said the Afghanistan Civil War was taking place strictly within the country's borders whereas the Vietnam War had involved forces and North Vietnam invading the South. The North Vietnamese generally contended that they were involved in the Civil War and that the only outsiders with the Americans and their allies.

Russian Mission Is Uncertain

There remains uncertainty about the mission of the Soviet forces. Some American officials believe that the Soviet military will try to provide security only for the major towns and cities and to keep roads open, while the 50,000 troops of the Afghanistan Army seek out the insurgents. Other officials believe the Russians may mount and anti-insurgency operation.

And officials said that most of the airlift flights had originated west of Moscow from military fields at Smolensk, Pochinol, Vitabsk, and Seshcha. The planes reportedly flew over Soviet Turkmenia, bordering on Afghanistan.