Reprinted from The Washington Times, March 6, 1998
U.S. says Ukraine
arms Taleban force
By Bill Gertz
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Ukraine's government has been shipping large quantities of arms to Afghanistan's radical Islamic Taleban government, prompting Russia to step up weapons supplies to Afghan rebels in the northern part of the country, U.S. intelligence officials say.
Disclosure of the Ukrainian weapons deliveries comes as Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright is set to arrive March 6 in Kiev, the Ukrainian capital. It could not be learned if the issue will be discussed in her talks.
The influx of weapons to Afghanistan, which is in the midst of a bloody civil war, is a sign Russia and Ukraine are backing opposing factions in the conflict.
According to intelligence officials with access to reports on the arms trade, the Ukrainian military recently supplied the hard-line regime in Kabul with 55 cargo jets full of arms and munitions.
The weapons were flown in IL-76 transports from the Ukrainian capital of Kiev to Peshawar, Pakistan, and then on to Afghanistan, the officials said. Other weapons were sent by ship to Karachi, Pakistan, they said.
In response to the Ukrainian arms deliveries, the Russian Defense Ministry in late January offered Ahmad Shah Masood, the leader of the Afghan rebel group Jamiat-i-Islami, up to $100 million worth of weapons, the officials said.
Russia is said to oppose the Taleban government because of its fundamentalist Islamic policies, which Moscow views as a bad influence on former Soviet republics in Central Asia, analysts say.
It is not clear how the rebels will pay for the weapons, but the Taleban government is said to be backed by Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Iran.
The Russian weapons offered for sale include grenade launchers, machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades, mortars, anti-aircraft guns, T-62 and T-55 tanks, trucks and communications equipment.
The offer also included more than 50 million rounds of ammunition and 1 million grenades, along with hundreds of thousands of mortar, rocket and tank rounds.
Mrs. Albright is expected to press the Ukrainians on their nuclear cooperation with Iran, which Washington opposes because it will contribute to Iran's nuclear arms program.
The State Department sent the Ukrainian government a formal diplomatic note opposing cooperation between Kiev and Tehran on the Bushehr nuclear facility, according to U.S. officials.
The Ukrainians are expected to request that the United States agree to Ukraine's entry into the 31-nation Missile Technology Control Regime under relaxed rules that permit the export of some missile technology currently banned by the pact.
Taleban forces currently control about two-thirds of the country while the remaining northern part is in the hands of opposition rebels, including Mr. Masood's forces.
James Phillips, a Middle East analyst at the Heritage Foundation, said it is unusual for the Ukraine government to be backing the Taleban government. He said Kiev may be doing so to earn cash or to snub rival Russia.
Russia may want to fuel the conflict in Afghanistan to prevent the country from unifying and serving as an oil and gas pipeline route to Central Europe, he said.
"The Taleban is perceived as a wholly owned subsidiary of Pakistan and if they were able to dominate Afghanistan they would be in a position to open a pipeline across the country that would give Central Asian states alternative routes for oil and gas pipelines," Mr. Phillips said. "From the Russian perspective it would be in their interest to keep Afghanistan divided."
The Clinton administration does not support the Taleban government because of its strict Islamic code, as well its links to foreign terrorists and opium smuggling.
Mr. Phillips said Mr. Masood was among the most successful of the U.S.-backed rebels that ousted Soviet forces from Afghanistan during the 1980s.
Ukraine may be supplying the arms as part of some secret arrangement with Iran, Mr. Phillips said, noting recent cooperation between the two countries on nuclear technology.Copyright 1998 News World Communications, Inc.
Reprinted with permission of
The Washington Times.
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