Afghan regime signs up 14 non-Communists for Govt

Press, 28 December 1985, Page 5

Afghan regime signs up 14 non-Communists for Govt

NZPA-Reuter Islamabad, Pakistan

The Soviet-backed Afghan Government has broadened its base by including several non-Communists in the Cabinet on the sixth anniversary of Soviet military intervention.

Kabul radio said yesterday that 14 men had been named to Government posts after approval by the revolutionary council presidium headed by the President, Mr Babrak Karmal.

Most, including a new Deputy Prime Minister, were from outside his ruling People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan and belonged to various ethnic groups. The move, announced on the eve of yesterday’s anniversary, seemed aimed at winning over public opinion as the Kabul Government, backed by an estimated 115,000 Soviet troops, fights Islamic guerrillas who want to topple it. Western diplomats reported tighter security in Kabul before the anniversary. Soviet troops patrolling streets and protection for Communist leaders was the most thorough yet seen.

The Afghan rulers are trying to win popular support with calls for understanding and co-operation between them and their opponents. Mr Karmal, who was in-

stalled in power on December 27, 1979, after Soviet troops were flown into Kabul to prop up his faltering party, called last month for a “national compromise”.

The Government said, on Saturday that a new commission had been set up to look after refugees returning from Pakistan and promised to give them a subsistence allowance, accommodation, jobs, and land.

Abdul Haq, a Peshawarbased rebel commander who staged a spectacular series of raids on Kabul in December, 1982, gave journalists a sober assessment of the guerrillas’ position.

He said that many villages around Kabul, which doubled as rebel hide-outs, had been emptied by Communist troops and that the 107 mm rocket used by the rebels to hit Kabul was “better than nothing but not accurate.” “The Soviets are better trained, better equipped with air and artillery support and (have) better communications to call them in,” he said. “The Mujahideen (Islamic warriors) have been slow in adapting. Our weaponry has not greatly improved and we don’t have a good programme for training.” Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a spokesman for the guerril-

las’ Islamic Alliance of Afghan Mujahideen, said that the Soviet Union could not permanently occupy Afghanistan. “Six years of resistance have proven to the whole world and to oppressed nations that a small but faithful and dedicated nation can challenge the might and force of a superpower,” he said. “The Russians will not be able to find any solution to the problem of Afghanistan other than the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of their forces.” In London Britain’s Foreign Secretary, Sir Geoffrey Howe, called on the Soviet Union yesterday to set a firm timetable for a troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Soviet forces had failed to crush popular resistance despite vast military superiority. ’‘Nowhere in Afghanistan can Soviet troops feel safe,” he said.

Britain fully supported United Nations efforts for a peaceful settlement in Afghanistan and neighbourS Pakistan had been flex- > and forthcoming in those negotiations. “The key issue, however, remains a firm timetable for the withdrawal of Soviet,” he said. “This is the test of the Soviet Union’s commitment to a settlement. Until the

Soviet forces leave, the suffering of the Afghan people will continue.” Soviet occupation forces, “abetted by the puppet Afghan regime,” had inflicted a heavy toll on Afghan civilians. Grave and “massive” violations of human rights in Afghanistan had included indiscriminate bombardment of civilians and the use of booby-trapped toys against children, Sir Geoffrey said.

“Some four million Afghans have fled to Iran and Pakistan while hundreds of thousands have been made destitute refugees in their own country, victims of hunger and disease. “The traditional structure of Afghan society is being systematically destroyed."

The British Press Association reports that London’s anti-Soviet propaganda now includes an updated film of the consequences of the Soviet invasion.

The 30-minute film, which includes interviews with some of the thousands of refugees flooding across the Afghan border into Pakistan, has just been completed by the Government-financed Central Office of Information.

It was decided that filming should not take place inside Afghanistan. It was felt that a British Government film team inside the

Afghan border could create a diplomatic incident Film of events inside Afghanistan that are included were bought on the open market The last film made for the Foreign Office by the C. 0.1. was distributed to 35 British missions throughout the world. Officials said that a similar distribution was planned for the latest film. It is estimated that three million Afghan refugees are in Pakistan as a result of the invasion in December, 1979. This is thought to be the largest concentration of refugees in the world. A Western doctor quoted in the film estimates that 800,000 people have died since the conflict started. Officials acknowledge that the film helps to portray how rough the Soviets can play when they feel their vital interests are threatened — a point it is felt that the poorer and nonaligned countries have absorbed in assessing the activities of the superpowers. Britain seems to have few real hopes that the Soviets will soon withdraw most of their troops in Afghanistan or that the refugees will soon be able to return home. It is felt that the Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, may hold out the prospect of withdrawal in an attempt to raise expectations of a softer approach to inter-