Kabul Govt tottering

Press, 27 February 1980, Page 8

Kabul Govt tottering

NZPA-Reuter Kabul The Soviet-backed Government in Afghanistan appeared to have virtually broken down yesterday in the face of the strikes and violent protesting against the Russian presence. Medical sources said more than 300 civilians had died in street fighting. Striking civil servants and office workers ignored repeated official broadcasts ordering them to return to work, and Afghan Government ministries were paralysed for a third day. A general strike of shopkeepers continued into its fifth day. Heavily-armed Soviet and Afghan troops, backed by armed civilian members of the ruling Khalq (People’s) Party, maintained patrols throughout the city. There were indications the Soviet military commander in Kabul was, in effect, acting as Head of Government

Reports indicated that

fighting that. raged in Kabul on Friday had slowed considerably. One report reaching New Delhi said gunfire rattled through the streets of Kabul through Sunday night, but a Frenchman in Kabul told a Paris radio station during a telephone interview that the centre of the city was calm. Tass, the official Soviet news agency, said “Life in Kabul is now gradually coming back to normal,” and claimed an “armed sortie of agents trained by the special services of Western countries led by the C.1.A.” were responsible for heavy street fighting that erupted last Thursday. A Kabul radio report monitored in Islamabad, Pakistan, said, “The citizens of Kabul have returned to their work and all shops in the city remained open.” But diplomatic sources there disputed the report and said the strikes were continuing.