Mojaheds Unwilling to Surrender \"Stingers\"

In Afghanistan a campaign has been launched to gather up the weapons kept by that country's population. According to the press service of the international peacekeeping forces in Afghanistan (ISAF), all unregistered weapons are to be rounded up, but the emphasis would be on the search and seizure of the "Stinger" portable anti-aircraft missiles. The collection campaign has been initiated by the Afghan Ministry of Defense, but the ISAF coalition forces would take an active part in it.

To all appearances, Washington has lost patience in its long-drawn-out but futile battle to collect the deadly anti-aircraft weapons that it itself had given to mojaheds at the time US supported the Afghan anti-Russian resistance. Some time ago the US tried to solve this problem on its own, offering Afghan warlords high bounties for each returned "Stinger", but that campaign had no success.

It is too early to judge now what arguments the official Kabul and the Americans may use to persuade the mojaheds to surrender the weapons. It seems likely that, if money and various incentives should fail, force may be used to seize the "Stingers". At any rate, German radio station Deutsche Welle has been quoting a spokesman of the Afghan Ministry of Defense General Zahir Azimi as saying that "if money fails, other ways and means to collect the missiles will be found". Evidently, the general meant confiscation under coercion.

Official supplies of "Stinger" missiles to Afghan mojaheds began with Washington's secret approval in 1986. However, according to some sources, the CIA started to deliver the missiles to mojaheds at the beginning of the 1980s. The US claims it had supplied altogether about 50 "Stingers" to mojaheds. However, experts believe the Afghans had received several hundreds missiles. Some part of it is still in the possession of paramilitary formations not controlled by Kabul.

The US is especially concerned with a possibility of the "Stingers" being passed over to the terrorist "Al-Qaeda" organization. It is also possible that the anti-aircraft missiles may get into the neighboring Central Asian countries where ISAF support aircraft are based, and also via Iran in the hands of the "Hezbollah" and Iraqi Shiite extremists.

It is noteworthy that the operation to round up "Stingers" in Afghanistan coincided in time with two serious aircraft crashes in Iraq. It is still unknown what caused the crashes of the US "Sea Stallion" helicopter and British RAF "Hercules" aircraft in which about 50 troops died. The crash of the civilian "Boing-737" in Afghanistan last week adds up to the uncertainty. 104 people died in the crash, among them four Russians.

Observers believe the present campaign in Afghanistan will be as useless as all the previous attempts. "Stingers" are not only an effective tactical means of control of air space, but also a highly valued currency. It is very unlikely that the warlords who have been waging war for nearly thirty years would be willing to give up such a treasured possession to Americans, Kabul authorities or anyone else.