AFGHANS 'CELEBRATE' SEVEN YEARS OF OCCUPATION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000706950004-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 27, 2010
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: March 8, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/27 :CIA-RDP90-005528000706950004-2
HUMAN EVENTS
8 March 1986
Afghans `Celebrate' Seven Years of Occupation
By SEN. MALCOLM WALLOP (R.-Wyo.)
l he scene ~~us the Hotel hahul,
Roorn 117, un l~eb. IS, 1979. Inside,
U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Spike
Dubs sat in :tn armchair, the hostage of
two Muslim gunmen who demanded the
release err cheer ur their leaders hcing
held by the Marvitit Afghan regime.
outside the hotel, Afghan police and
snipers had taken up positions. Ameri-
c:ut Ernbassy ulficials pleaded for a
negotiated relea}e and a patient
response in dealing with the terrorists.
When the Afghan police had arrived
four hours earlier, Soviet security ad-
~isrrs had come with them. Now one ur
the Soviets, wearing a flak jacket and
carrying a rifle, :tssunted a prone firing
position in front of the door of Room
117. A backup squad also took aim.
Outside, three other Soviets stepped
out onto the balcony next to Room 1 17
and when one raised his hand, a hail of
hullers resulted, lasting 40 seconds.
When the Kussian waved his hand
again, the Firing ceased. Inside Rootn
117, the kidnappers lay dead. Su did
Ambassador Ihths.
Ten month` later the Soviet lJnion
invaded and hegan its official orcu-
patiun ul' ~\rghanistan. What has
followed is ;t ~~ar between the Soviets
and the ~tuj:thcdrrn, who are freedom
tiehters seeking to rid their country of
its Soviet nuntrn. ~'ith the beginning
of 1986, the Sup in Afghan conflict has
uuw entered its sc~enth year. Experts
ulv they srr nu end in sight.
There are no.. 118,1)110 Svc iet troops
suctioned and righting in AfKh:tnistan,
with another ~10,1)1>tl troops along its
border. The yeah of conflict have
taken a heavy cull. Over a million
Afghans have died Another four
million are rerugcrs in either Pakistan
ur Iran. And yet, despite the impossible
odds ul being outmanned and desper-
ately undereyuipped, the Mujahedeen
fight t,n in an unrelenting quest to
preserve their freedom and culture.
What makes this example t-f
Soviet imperialism so intolerable is
not only the fact that a war of
aggression and expansion is being
waged, but further, that the
Soviets are carrying out a policy of
systematic genocide against the
Afghan population, frequently in-
cluding the death of innocent
women and children and the des-
truction of entire communities.
During the six years of the Afghan
war, the Soviets have dropped or
planted more than two million mines,
some of which have been in the shape of
toys su as to attract children. Moscow's
methods have gone as far as to include
the use of chemical weapons, incen-
diary bombs and napalm. In one in-
stance, when troops from the Marxist
Afghan army defected, the people of an
entire village were tied, stacked like
wood, drenched with gasoline and set
on tier to be burned alive.
In his New Year television address to
the American people, Soviet leader
Mikhail Ciurbachev said: "As I face
you today, 1 want to say that the Soviet
people are dedicated to peace -that
supreme value equal to the gift of life.
For the Soviet people, the year 1986
marks the beginning of a new stage in
carrying out our constructive plans.
Those are peaceful plans; we have made
them known ut the whole world."
II the Soviets arc as dedicated to
peace as they say, their actions speak
louder than their word.. Let them with-
draw from Afghanistan as a sign of
good faith. Let them at least allow the
International Red Cross to enter
Afghanistan so that the innocent vic-
tims, wounded and hungry, may be
treated. Let the Soviets allow outside
medical assistance so that the infant
mortality rate, which reached 85 per
cent last winter, can be reduced.
On the first anniversary of Ambas-
sador Dubs' murder, Moscow-spun- _
cured Radio Kabul broadcast a mess:~e
in English that said: "It is now known
that the killing of Am assador Duhs
w,as carried out by the CIA." The. an- ,
nouncer went on to exp ain that the kill-
ing was merely to give the United States
the excuse to rea o re atT eons with
Afghanistan and halt aid.
The truth of the matter was that
Dubs had made significant progress in
weaning the Afghan government away
from Moscow. His actions had become
a threat to the Soviet direction and pur-
pose for Afghanistan. Small wonder
that his safety was of little consequence
to his "rescuers."
As Americans, living in peace, we
would do well [o remember the struggle
of the people of Afghanistan. Our lead-
ers would do well to keep that struggle
firmly in mind as they begin to build
new lines of communication with a So-
viet regime which initiated and perpetu-
ates total war in Afghanistan. And we
must all realize, as we look, with hope,
to a new year in which the prospects for
peace might be improved that, in the
final analysis, governments and people
alike must be judged by their deeds and
not simply by their rhetoric. ^
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/27 :CIA-RDP90-005528000706950004-2