The World - News from Oct. 30, 1988

The Soviets may have violated a troop withdrawal agreement by deploying up to 30 high-performance ground support warplanes in Afghanistan, U.S. officials said. The New York Times, which first reported the presence of the warplanes that were identified as MIG-27s, quoted an unidentified official as predicting a new Soviet offensive. Afghan rebels battling the Kabul regime confirmed the presence of two squadrons of MIG-27s at Shindand near the Iranian border, one U.S. official said. The Soviet Union has said that it would undertake military operations only to protect its troops.