Afghanistan urges backing by youth amid desertions

The Afghan government has appealed to its young for support amid increasing desertion from the ranks of the Soviet-backed army. The army is also taking men who formerly were exempt, icluding doctors, teachers, students, and be who formerly have already served. Families with draft-a ge though they know they may never see them again.

Meanwhile, a diplomatic source reports that Soviet troops are using a new assault riffle that shoots outlawed hollow-nose dumdum-type bullets and have grought in "cluster bombs filled with needlike arrows that scateer over a widearea." Another source had arrived, but said there is"no hard evidence" that 10,000 Cuban troops are fighting in Afghanistan.