Soviets reaffirm vow to stay in Afghanistan

Press, 21 October 1980, Page 8

Soviets reaffirm vow to stay in Afghanistan

NZPA-Reuter Moscow. The Soviet Union and the[ Moscow-installed Govern-| ment in Afghanistan restated: yesterday that Moscow’s troops would be withdrawn from Afghanistan only when all resistance to the rule of. President Babrak Karmal had ended.

Hinting at a possible increase in the Kremlin’s military commitment in Afghanistan, their joint statement said that Mr Karmal’s Government could "further count on solidarity and internationalist aid of the Soviet people.” Referring to the Afghanis-; tan-based Soviet force, esti-j mated by the United States to be in the region of 85,000 men, the statement added: “The question of the date of its (The Soviet forces) withdrawal can be examined in the context of a political settlement and not before aggression ■ against . the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan is completely ended and guarantees are given of non-resumption of subversive actions from abroad, against-the Afghan, people and their. Government.” -

The declaration was signed by President Leonid Brezhnev and "Mr Karmal,

shortly after the latter arrived in Moscow last week on an official visit, though the text was made public only yesterday.

. Ruling out any international settlement that did not accept the position of Mr Karmal as Afghanistan’s leader, the statement said: “No plans affecting the sovereignty of the people or the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan or disregarding its legitimate Government would be a success.”

i Mr Brezhnev and the Soviet Prime Minister (Mr Alexei Kosygin) were said in the statement to have accepted an invitation to visit- Afghanistan.

But the security situation there, the failing health of Mr Kosygin, and the rarity with which Mr Brezhnev travels in ' the Third World made this seem unlikely in the near future.

The signing of the statement at the Kremlin was attended by almost the entire Soviet Politburo and its wording indicated that Moscow dods not apparently intend to waver from providing full support for Mr Karmal.

The Afghan leader’s visit, to Moscow, his first abroad since coming to power last December in a Soviet-backed coup, takes place against the backcloth of an armed rebellion against his rule. •/ In the latest account of the Afghan fighting, the “Indian Express” in New Delhi has reported that about-200 Afghans were killed, . and their homes were destroyed in. a Soviet air attack on Farza, a town north of Kabul, early this month .to punish it for sheltering Muslim. rebels/ ,