ABSTRACT

Typically, the Soviet apparatus used its known and effective skills within Afghanistan and abroad, to disguise the nature of the war it was waging. Alexiev gives a significant example: closing off a key supply route to the northern area of Afghanistan by persuading the tribe to set up a militia, while denying the anti-Soviet mujahideen passage through the Nuristan Valley territory in the winter of 1987. Removing the Afghanistan issue from international public opinion, while persuading Pakistan, by a mix of threats and promises, to withhold support for the resistance while denying refuge on Pakistani territory: a vital element in tribal resistance. As always, the vast Soviet propaganda apparatus was used to persuade the West that the ultimate Soviet aim was a negotiated settlement, while letting the West understand that the vitally important arms control agreements would be undermined by raising the Afghanistan issue.