Afghan veterans view war with mixed feelings

VILNIUS - At a Pentagon briefing on Oct. 30, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld publicly acknowledged that there are a "modest" number of U.S. troops on the ground in northern Afghanistan. For Lithuanian veterans of the Afghan war this spectacle may summon bitter memories.

Some 5,000 Lithuanians were forced to fight in the Soviet army in the Soviet-Afghan war of the 1970s and 1980s. Around 90 were killed. Many observe with compassion the United States' current war in this remote land of sand and mountains. Unsurprisingly, they are happy to offer any advice.

"The Americans should cooperate closely with the Northern Alliance," suggested Naglis Puteikis, a Lithuanian veteran of the Soviet-Afghan war and now director of the Klaipedos Laivu Remontas shipyard.

"Bagram, a good Soviet-built airport currently in the hands of the anti-Taliban forces, is a good place for the United States to start ground operations. But the Taliban control all the surrounding mountains so it will be impossible to use it without first clearing the mountains of the Taliban," he said.

"It is also vital that the Americans find allies among the ethnic Pushtuns, who make up 50 percent of the Afghan population and so open a second front. Alone, the Americans can do nothing."

Given guns at an early age, Afghan boys grow up in a warrior culture, claimed Puteikis, a culture which is difficult for outsiders to understand.

Another Afghan war veteran, Valdas Tutkus, now chief of the Lithuanian army's ground forces, echoed these views. For all its state-of-the-art technology the United States should use local people in its operations, he recommended.

Rimantas Ruzas, a Social Democrat MP and chairman of the Afghan War Veterans' Organization, is skeptical about the chances of the U.S.A. having any military success in Afghanistan.

"The U.S. operation could have been successful if American commandos had acted immediately after Sept. 11. But instead they have chosen to start a long-term bombing campaign. An operation against Osama bin Laden was turned into an operation against the Taliban regime," Ruzas told The Baltic Times.

He added that he has no faith in the Northern Alliance's loyalty to the United States. "I know these people. Some day they could join the Taliban and turn their guns against the Americans."