Defense & Foreign Affairs' Strategic Policy, October 31, 1994
October 31, 1994
US Commits Forces, Weapons to Bosnia
Reliable sources report that the United States is now actively participating
in the arming and training of the Muslim forces of Bosnia -Herzegovina in
direct contravention of the United Nations accords. US agencies have been
providing weapons made in the people's Republic of China (PRC), North Korea
(DPRK) and Iran. The sources indicated that, on September 9, 1994, Iran, with
the knowledge and agreement of the US Government, supplied the Bosnian forces
with a large number of multiple rocket launchers and a large quantity of
ammunition. These included 107mm and 122mm rockets from the PRC, and VBR-230
multiple rocket launchers of 333mm and 355mm made in Iran.
In May 1994, it was reported that 400 members of the Iranian Revolutionary
Guard (Pasdaran) arrived in Bosnia with a large supply of arms and ammunition.
It was alleged that the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had full
knowledge of the operation and that the CIA believed that some of the 400 had
been detached for future terrorist operations in Western Europe.
During September and October this year, there has been a stream of "Afghan"
mujahedin -- the name now given to the radical Islamist fighters who earlier
operated in Afghanistan -- covertly landed in Ploce, Croatia (South-West of
Mostar) from where they have traveled with false papers towards Split and then
Livno, before deploying with the Bosnian Muslim forces in the Kupres, Zenica and
Banja Luka areas. These forces hace recently experienced a significant degree
of military success. They have, according to sources in Sarajevo, been aided by
the UNPROFOR Bangladesh battalion, which took over from a French battalion early
in September.
The mujahedin landing at Ploce are reported to have been accompanied by US
Special Forces equipped with high-tech communications equipment, the sources
said. The sources said that the mission of the US troops was to establish a
command, control, communications and intelligence network to coordinate and
support a Bosnian Muslim offensives -- in concert with mujahedin and Bosnian
Croat forces -- in Kupres, Zenica and Banja Luka. Some offensives have recently
been conducted from within the UN-established safehavens in the Zenica and Banja
Luka regions. [See also, article on page six.]
The "Afghan" mujahedin are not all veterans of the Afghan war: the 3,000 or
so of this force around the Zenica area are drawn mainly from Malaysia,
Pakistan, Iran, and Turkey. They are fighting as part of the Bosnian Muslim 3rd
Corps, deployed at Zenica and in the nearby villages of Arnauti, Nemill,
Bistricak, Stranjani, Mehuric, Janjici, and Kasapouici. As well, housed on the
top floor of the most important hotel in Zenica are 30 Iranian military
instructors engaged in training Bosnian Muslim forces and specialist terrorist
(or special operations) units.
The US Administration has not restricted its involvement to the clandestine
contravention of the UN arms embargo on the region (which has also been broken
by other states) and the injection of combat troops. It committed three
high-ranking delegations over the past two years in failed attempts to bring the
Yugoslav Government into line with US policy. Yugoslavis is the only state in
the region to have failed to acquiesce to US pressure.
