AFGHANISTAN: EYEWITNESS REPORT

- Defending the gains
of the revolution

Terry Marsland, deputy general secretary of Britain's tobacco workers’ union,
was one of a five-person delegation which visited Afghanistan this summer, or-
ganized by Liberation, formerly the Movement for Colonial Freedom, a group com-
posed of trade unionists, academics and Members of Parliament. Her report is one
of the most penetrating to date. It first appeared in Britain's Morning Star. Second of

two parts.

Afghanistan was a feudal society. The
workers were oppressed and exploited.
Women were doubly exploited. Seven-
teen years ago, the organization of Af-
ghan women was founded. The women’s
organization has clubs set up in the cities
and villages. which run courses for
women in literacy, health counselling
and politics. Attention is paid to develop-
ing traditional skills as well as learning
new ones.

The Afghan government is committed
to the principle of equal rights irrespec-
tive of race, religion or sex. The women I
spoke to pointed out that statutory legis-
lation for equal rights is a milestone for
Afghan women, but the practical im- ~
_ plementation of the legislation is going to
take a long time to achieve. Ninety-eight
per cent of Afghan women are illiterate,
coupled with this are the traditional, re-
ligious and tribal attitudes to women.

_ The revolution is four years old. In that
time progress has been made. That pro-
gress has to be measured against what
existed in Afghanistan prior to the revo-
lution. It is a country which has leaped
from feudalism into the 20th century.
The problems it faces are enormous and
are no easy solutions. But talking

achieve full emancipation for all Afghan
women.

Religious Leaders

Changing centuries of religious custom
and practice is a slow progress. The
government cannot afford to alienate the
religious leaders. To do so would be
stupid and counter-productive. The view
expressed was “‘if the government does
not respect religious belief, they will not
respect ours.”

The Afghan leaders we spoke to are
deeply committed, well-informed
people, determined to succeed in build-
ing a socialist Afghanistan. To carry out
their program of development they know
they must have the full and active sup-
port of all the people. I believe they have
it. J
In the propaganda war against the Af-
ghan government, it has been accused of
persecuting the religious groups. The
delegation had the opportunity to visit
the mosques and meet religious leaders if
they wished and we saw a magnificent

mosque under construction. I really can- _

not believe that was stage-managed for
the benefit of opr delegation.
The corner-stone of Afghanistan

WORLD

underline the constant need for vigilance.

existed between Afghanistan and the
Soviet Union since 1919. What anger the
Afghans is the distortions and lies con-
cerning the role of the Soviet Union in
Afghanistan by the Western media.

On March 22 President Reagan called
for a Day of Solidarity with Afghanistan.
The citizens of Kabul on that day gave
him his answer: 200,000 of them marched
in protest to the United States Embassy.

CIA Involved

a

Thousands of captured weapons in a CIA-backed effort to

posturing of the British Government and
the Carter administration during the
run-up to the 1980 Olympics held in
Moscow. All champions of humam
rights?

presidents Carter or Reagan start shed- q
ding tears about the people of Afghan-
istan or Poland and attempt to portray ©

overthrow the government

Posturing
We would do well to remember the

When the British prime minister and —

themselves as champions of human
rights, we should remember the record of
Western governments throughout the —
world over the years. ¢
Korea, Vietnam, South Africa, Chile, —
Guatemala, El Salvador, the list is long —
and terrible. Western capitalism has and
is at present propping up corrupt regimes
throughout the world to exploit the
wealth of the nation and its people and
influencing their political development.
Whenever people fight for freedom

with the women I was impressed by their foreign policy is trade and friendship

will and determination to succeed in the with the Soviet Union and the. socialist
development of their country and to countries. Treaties of friendship have

\POUEEREA DEENA

South Africa prepares
invasion of Zimbabwe

The Prime Minister of Afghanistan in
discussions with the delegation made it
perfectly clear the government’s view.
was that the Soviet Union did not invade
the country. The Afghan Government
asked for help under the United Nations
Charter Section 51. It is their firm belief
that if they had not sought and received
aid from the Soviet Union, then Af-
ghanistan would have become a second
Chile.

cman +

By DICK GELDART

South Africa is poised for an invasion
of Zimbabwe, in all probability before
the end of this year. That is the story I
have from a South African military
source, and I believe it.

The broad outlines of the plan have
some features in common with those de-
vised ahead of the ill-fated Suez adven-
ture of 1956, but with the critical weak-
ness of the 1956 plan removed.

Twenty-six years ago, the Israelis
were meant to launch an attack with
Anglo-French forces then pouring in as
‘peace-keepers’. It all went wrong when
Israel reneged on her promise to attack
first.

This time, it is the South Africans who
are to cppear in the unlikely role of
peace-keeper, but they are taking no
chances on being let down by an unre-
liable ally. Instead, a special role has
been assigned to the Selous Scouts, the
black terror-troops of Ian Smith’s
Rhodesia, the great majority of whom
followed their officers into South. African
exile at the time of Zimbabwe's indepen-
dence.

Units of these, operating inside Zim-
babwe, will create ‘incidents’ in the
south of the country, making these ap-
pear to be the work of dissident troops
loyal to Mr. Joshua Nkomo. South Afri-
can or other ‘white’ blood will be spilt.

Air strike

At that moment, South African forces,
operating from a South African Air

Force base in Northern Transvaal, will
be air-lifted into southern Zimbabwe ‘in
order to restore law and order and pro-
tect lives and property’.

~ Militarily, Zimbabwe’s armed forces
are no match for those of the apartheid
state. South African air superiority
should be achieved in the first few hours
of conflict, with South African tactical
control on the ground following not long
after.

If anything more than momentary suc-
cess is to be achieved by the South Afri-
cans, however, Pretoria will need the
tacit support of the ‘western’ powers.
My information is that this support is
assured.

This is the explanation for demands
that Cuban troops leave Angola, for the
de facto acceptance of South Africa’s
military presence on Angolan territory
and for the extra-ordinary leeway being
given South Africa over Namibia by the
Contact Group powers. =

With South African-backed MNR re-
bels running riot in the south of Mozam-
bique and plans for a South African-
directed ‘Super-Swaziland’ but momen-
tarily delayed by the death of King
Sobhuza, only Zimbabwe remains as a
gap in Pretoria’s defensive wall.
. Plugging that gap is therefore an urgent
issue for South Africa’s military and
political chiefs and they mean to waste
no time in getting on with the job.

— Abridged from New Worker
News Service

It is no secret that the CIA is actively

involved in that area. When President .

Reagan took over the White House, the
United States involvement in the un-—
declared war against Afghanistan ac-
quired a new dimension. On March 4,
1981, a U.S. spokesman declared that
the administration would not object to
a coup d’etat in Afghanistan and the
British Government’s hands are not
clean in being party to the continued in-
stability in that area.

The Afghanistan Government has at-
tempted to establish a negotiated: settle-

ment between China, Iran and Pakistan. »

on the basis of sovereignty and non-inter-
ference in internal affairs, under the ban-
ner of the United Nations and has even
‘gone so far as to suggest that the Soviet
Union and the U.S. could be involved as
guarantor countries of any agreements
which are reached.

So far, on the basis of these proposals, °
little progress has been made. There is no

‘ question in my mind that those countries
bordering Afghanistan are providing the
facilities and the finance, aided and abet-
ted by Western governments, as training
grounds for mercenaries and counter-
revolutionaries. While Britain and the
U.S. continue to be involved in that area,
there will be continued instability and the
Soviet presence will remain.

The Afghan prime minister made it \
perfectly clear that as soon as agree-
ments and treaties are made with the
neighboring states, which respect Af-
ghan sovereignty and independence, the
Soviet troops will return to their home-
land. ‘

and independence, and workers seek to
take control over their own destiny, the
forces of reaction will use whatever

- means are at their disposal to hold back
the tide.

the destruction of the socialist govern- _
ment in Chile is a classic exampie. We
must learn from these lessons and not

“allow ourselvés to be carried along on 4
tide of rhetoric and propaganda.

_ally learned from my visit to Afghan- —
istan, brief though. it was, was the desire
of the Afghanistan Government and |
people; for peace and to share the frater

- nity and .support from progressive
organizations throughout the world, |
similar to that shown by the Soviet.
Union.

The murder of President Allende and

The most important lesson I person-

tiplied four and a half times since the
military took over in a coup in 1973,
charges ‘‘From Uruguay,”’ paper of the
exiled opposition.

military dictatorship, the foreign debt
stood at $717.9 million, however, at thé
close of the fourth quarter of 1981, with
the exception of 1978, figures indicate thé
debt increased every year to $3.129-bil
lion.

half times greater than the income fro™

Uruguay’s debt

The foreign debt of Uruguay has mu

At the end of 1973, first year of the

The foreign debt in 1981 was two and @

iyQEQUQUDEEALUUENUUUERAUUEENEUOEOENUUUEEEUUUTUOUUEERUOUEREEOUAEEAOUEEEEADEACENEELEEL TEETH

the country’s exports.
PACIFIC TRIBUNE—OCTOBER 15, 1982—Page 10