From: Miroslav Antic <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: RUSSIAN GENERALS COMMENT ON PROSPECTS OF U.S. ANTI-TERRORIST OPERATION [WWW.STOP Visit our website: HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------------------------- Argumenty i Fakty No. 39 September 2001 [translation from RIA Novosti for personal use only] RUSSIAN GENERALS COMMENT ON PROSPECTS OF U.S. ANTI-TERRORIST OPERATION GENERAL RUSLAN AUSHEV: AMERICA WILL GET A HEADACHE Natalya ANDRUSHCHENKO and Vitaly TSEPLYAYEV President of Ingushetia Ruslan Aushev knows about the war in Afghanistan not from hearsay. He spent 4 years and 7 months there. He was a commander of a mechanised infantry battalion, the chief of a regiment headquarters, was heavily wounded and became Hero of the Soviet Union. Lieutenant-General agreed to answer questions of the Argumenty i Fakty newspaper on the prospects of the anti-terrorist operation prepared by the United States. Question: What in your opinion are specific features of hostilities in Afghanistan? Answer: First, the local terrain is very complicated. Afghanistan is a mountainous country. Second, there is a lack of infrastructure and most importantly roads. A large group of vehicles could be moved only in certain directions there, which limits opportunities for maneuver. Troops usually move in columns, and therefore become convenient targets in mine warfare. At the same time, mountainous terrain provides the defensive side with perfect conditions for creating ambushes and fortified areas in the mountains, which are hard to take over even if you have modern and precise missile weapons. If the Americans deploy land forces in Afghanistan, they will face such a war for the first time in their experience. Major personnel losses are inevitable, even if they would advance by blasting and burning everything ahead of them. Houses in Afghanistan are made of clay and their wall structure reminds of plasticine. This lowers the effect of fire attacks. Also, troops that advance in the mountains are blinded, as they do not see anyone, but they themselves are perfectly visible. I doubt that the Taliban will send major troops to fight the Americans. I think they are more likely to divide their forces into small groups and attack the enemy from all sides. Question: Can special services kill bin Laden without causing a major bloodshed? Answer: I assume, special services are capable of anything. But then the question is why do they initiate a military operation? If their only goal is to liquidate bin Laden, they should undertake different actions. Judging by their preparations, the U.S. and its allies want an operation that would affect the whole region. No one has estimated the consequences of such a scenario. Question: How many troops are needed to keep Afghanistan in control? Answer: The Soviet Union retained 100,000 troops there. Our troops were stationed in all parts of the country, but they controlled the area only directly near them, which means in actuality only twenty percent of the Afghan territory. Afghanistan occupies a territory of over 650,000 square km, which is more than the territory of France. Almost eighteen million people live there. The Americans are not going to be able to control Afghanistan even if they send the entire U.S. army there. Question: Given the Soviet troops' experience what advice can we give the U.S.? Answer: We had a different purpose in Afghanistan. We set out to help the Afghan leadership of the time. We entered and stopped. If we had not moved anywhere and got involved, the result would have been completely different. But we allowed ourselves to get dragged into warfare. This was our worst mistake. The Americans risk repeating our mistake. It is possible that if they use all of their capabilities, cruise missiles, etc. they would suppress the Taliban forces for a while. However, they will never defeat the whole nation. The U.S. is simply going to get another headache. GENERAL EDUARD VOROBYEV: SECRETS OF INVASION Alexander KONDRASHOV Colonel-General Eduard Vorobyev is Deputy Chairman of the Duma Committee on Defence. He has been in charge of troops in many hot spots. He participated in warfare in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Transdniestria. Question: Some sort of invasion is inevitable at this point. How much time is needed to prepare for the operation? Answer: The Soviet Union prepared to enter Afghanistan for about a year. Just like in this case, the preparations were kept in strict secret. Question: The Taliban is armed rather well. What could help breaking its resistance? Could it be bought off? There must be a reason why American businessmen promised to pay $1 billion for Osama bin Laden's head. Answer: Money in the East plays an important role. We lured Afghan tribal leaders to our side not by pretty words alone. The U.S. can certainly buy over many of the Taliban's field commanders. But I would doubt it could work with the main leaders, including Mullah Omar, and not only because of their fanaticism. They are very well aware that with time they are going to share bin Laden's fate. I believe that it makes more sense to assist the Taliban's opposition, the Northern Alliance. Question: They say that the U.S. air force is ready to use 30,000 bombs in Afghanistan. Would air strikes help? Answer: This is an obsolete tactics. During our war in Afghanistan, we used carpet bombings, which created the amount of chipping sufficient to build roads all over the world. Such strikes are very ineffective. Today, there are concussion bombs. Due to high pressure, they leave nothing but shadows of people behind in caverns. There also exist laser-guided systems that allow a charge or bomb to hit a tank hatch from many kilometres away. Question: The Americans stated that they would not limit their actions in Afghanistan to remote strikes. What major difficulties will they encounter in a ground operation? Answer: First, the major problem will be warfare being separated from the rear support. Let's say the Americans deploy paratroopers in the mountains. They fight for no longer than 8 to 10 days. After that, the rear needs to be moved closer to the front line, as it supplies not only ammunition and fuel, but also water, food, and firewood. We faced this problem in the first phase of the war in Afghanistan. Our paratroopers would take 310 cartridges instead of 60 and a double grenade set. Dry rations and firewood they would leave behind. However, in autumn and winter, on the Hindukush mountains, is it easier to die from cold than from a bullet. A hungry soldier is not a good soldier either. In periods when it rains and snows, it is rather difficult to use aviation and move through alpine passes. Warfare in Afghanistan is hard regardless. Success would depend on every little thing, such as, for instance, whether the servicemen have appropriate supplies of warm underclothing and wool caps. _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
