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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, January 4, 1980
Page 10
ON THE WORLD SCENE
SOVIETS "INVITE THEMSELVES" INTO AFGHANISTAN: In a carefully orchestrated
plan of attack, the Soviet Union has poured up to 50,000 troops into
neighboring Afghanistan. On Thursday last week, advance elements of the
invasion force, arriving in a 72-hour-long, round-the-clock airlift,
engineered a government coup, installing Babrak Karmal as the new pres
ident.
Karmal was hand-picked by the Kremlin to replace Hafizullah Amin, an
earlier pro-Soviet puppet who was unable to stem anti-government forces
in Afghanistan's rugged hinterlands. Amin was ousted and executed. Then,
in an action reminicent of the Red Army's invasion of Czechoslovakia in
1968, Karmal allegedly called upon the Soviets for urgent assistance to
preserve his rule. In faked response, the remaining 40,000 Soviet troops,
who had been poised north of the Soviet-Afghan border, stormed in. Accord
ing to terms of the so-called "Brezhnev doctrine" the Soviet Union
obligates itself to preserve the "irreversible gains" of socialism where
ever they are threatened.
Immediately after Karmal allegedly took over, Mr. "Brezhnev sent him a
telegram, congratulating him on his "election" and wishing him "big
successes'' in his new role. Just how cynical this was is indicated by
the latest evidence that Karmal has not yet arrived in Kabul from his
exile in the U.S.S.R. It is known that his plea for help was pre
recorded and broadcast from inside the Soviet Union!!
Czechoslovakia's newspaper Rude Pravo, in Prague, said of the Kremlin's
move:
"The Soviet Union acted in the best traditions of the spirit of
international solidarity among revolutionary, anti-imperialist forces, as
a genuine friend of the Afghan people." The Kremlin itself justified its
intervention on the basis of its 1975 "peace and friendship" treaty with
Afghanistan. It blamed the unrest
in
Afghanistan
on
Chinese "imperialism"
and, of course, the CIA.
It is no coincidence that the blatant Soviet incursion into Afghanistan
has occurred while Iran is showing signs of dissolution. Khomeini's
fractured country is falling apart and the Soviets want to be in position
to pick up some of the pieces.
Even more important, Afghanistan represents for the Soviets key real
estate necessary to implement a giant pincer plan designed to encircle
the Persian Gulf oil reserves, the oil lifeline of the free world.
The Chinese news agency Xinhua reported that the incursion was part of
Soviet strategy to seize oil-producing areas, control sea lanes and out
flank Europe, thus posing "a grave threat to peace and security in Asia
and the whole world."
Soviet control of Afghanistan would extend Soviet influence to within 350
miles of the Arabian Sea. By using Afghan bases, Soviet aircraft could
reach the Strait of Hormuz--the vital "chokepoint" for oil moving from
the Persian Gulf into the Arabian Sea--and remain on station there for at
least 30 minutes before having to return to base.
The latest Soviet actions indicate that Moscow is prepared to take
whatever steps appear necessary to maintain its foothold in Afghanistan,
which had recently been on shaky ground with the ineffective Amin. The
lesson is, reports New Republic magazine, that npower counts, and the
Soviet Union is willing to use it."