Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev was full of promises last week. At a speech in Vladivostok, he pledged to withdraw six Soviet regiments, amounting to some 8,000 troops, from Afghanistan by the end of the year. He cited his offer as proof that Moscow is "striving to speed political settlement" in the torn country, which the Soviets invaded in 1979.
But after reading the fine print in Gorbachev's offer, Western military analysts pooh-poohed it. Noting that three of the six regiments were antiaircraft units, they pointed out that Afghanistan's mujahedin resistance fighters lack an air force. Gorbachev's list also included an armored...
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