#4
Ex-Soviet commander in Afghanistan warns USA against
hasty action
RIA
Moscow, 18 September: Before embarking on military action in Afghanistan,
the US government must "weigh up all the angles", warned Moscow Region
governor Hero of the Soviet Union Col-Gen Boris Gromov today.
A RIA correspondent reports that Gromov reminded people that he had fought
in Afghanistan for five and a half years and was commander of the 40th
Army. "Fighting in Afghanistan is extremely difficult," he stressed to
journalists.
Gromov said the reason for this lay both in the country's geography and in
its special ethnic make-up. At the same time, he noted that by no means all
of the population of Afghanistan supports the Taleban. If there is military
action then civilians may suffer, said the governor. Furthermore, he is
convinced that first there must be clarification as to whether or not the
Taleban regime really was involved in the terrorist acts in the USA.
In his opinion, in the current situation Russia must cooperate with the
USA, primarily through diplomatic channels. In the longer term, if the
appropriate decision is taken, there must be cooperation between special
services as well. This will make it possible to coordinate the operations
of both countries and make the campaign against international terrorism
"more effective".
