Afghans protest on anniversary of Soviet invasion

Press, 29 December 1986, Page 9

Afghans protest on anniversary of Soviet invasion

NZPA-Reuter Islamabad Afghan exiles in Pakistan burned Soviet flags and an effigy of the Kremlin leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, during protests on Saturday marking the seventh anniversary of the Soviet military intervention in their homeland, witnesses and Afghan sources reported. In Moscow, the Government newspaper, “Izvestia,” defended the Soviet decision to send in troops on December 27, 1979, while in Washington, President Ronald Reagan marked the date with a harsh attack on the action.

In Afghanistan itself, the official radio did not mention the anniversary in its evening bulletins.

About 1000 Afghan exiles marched through the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, shouting anti-Soviet slogans and demanding the withdrawal of Soviet forces. Some burned an effigy of Mr Gorbachev. Elsewhere in Pakistan, demonstrations were reported in North-West Frontier and Baluchistan provinces, where most of the estimated three million Afghan refugees in Pakistan live, and a protest also took place in the port of Karachi. In the Indian capital, New Delhi, several hundred Afghan refugees were briefly detained after demonstrations. In Bonn, West German police said about 1000 people joined demonstrations organised by Afghan opposition groups.

“Izvestia” said Soviet troops were sent to Afghanistan in response to an appeal for help from Kabul in the face of an undeclared war that had been launched long before.

Its commentary appeared as Western countries called for the withdrawal of Soviet troops and a negotiated solution to the conflict between the Afghan Government and Muslim guerrillas. The Soviets say they intervened at the request of Babrak Karmal, installed as Afghan leader in December, 1979. The aim was to counter outside interference. .

“Izvestia” said about 100,000 counter-revolu-tionary forces from Pakistan, trained by the Central

Intelligence Agency, would have seized Afghan cities early in 1980. Mr Reagan yesterday accused the Soviet Union of empty gestures and called on the international community to support the Afghan resistance to the military presence. The Soviet intervention was an act of aggression that "shattered many illusions about the Soviet Union,” he said. Mr Reagan urged the Soviets to present a realistic timetable for the withdrawal of their troops from Afghanistan. “The United States, which has always supported a negotiated political solution to the war in Afghanistan, will place no barriers in the Soviets’ way should they decide to negotiate seriously an end

to their occupation of Afghanistan,” he said. “But empty gestures, such as the talk about peace and a settlement, and the sham withdrawal in October of a few Soviet regiments will not bring an end to the killing and destruction.” Mr Reagan praised the courage of the Afghan people, saying they had refused to surrender “in the face of a brutal onslaught.” • The official news agency, Tass, reported yesterday that Afghan rebels using Americansupplied anti-aircraft missiles hit a plane carrying 25 passengers in the air near Kabul. It said the plane caught fire but none of the passengers was killed.