SOVIETS SEEK WIDER ACCEPTANCE OF REGIME IN KABUL

Document Type: 
Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP90-00965R000403740007-0
Release Decision: 
RIPPUB
Original Classification: 
K
Document Page Count: 
1
Document Creation Date: 
December 22, 2016
Document Release Date: 
January 12, 2012
Sequence Number: 
7
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
January 16, 1986
Content Type: 
OPEN SOURCE
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PDF icon CIA-RDP90-00965R000403740007-0.pdf105.03 KB
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STAT Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/12 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000403740007-0 ON PA-,GCZ!X rv t+O n l IN U I U 1N r U 3 1 16 January 1986 Soviets Seek Wider Acceptance of Regime in Kabul Campaign Vbuld Burnish Babrak's Image, Press Him to Broaden His Political Base By Gary Lee WeeMieMee Par Forew Service MOSCOW, Jan. 15-The Soviet Union is or- chestrating a campaign to widen international recognition of the regime it imposed in Afghan- istan, according to western and Asian diplomats here. Thy campaign involves stepping yip pres- sure on Afghan leader Babrak Karmal to broaden his political bale and to advertise his will for po- litical compromise through the international news media. The efforts have resulted in the inclusion of a prominent noncommunist in the Babrak govern- ment and a well-advertised appeal from Kabul, quickly seconded by Moscow, for dissenting Af- ghan groups to return to the fold. Eleven noncommunists were added to the Af- ghan government early this year-a deputy prime minister, five ministers and five deputy ministers-according to a Jan. 3 article in Pravda, the Soviet Communist Party newspaper. Afghanistan needs "an atmosphere conducive to positive dialogue between various sociopolit- ical forces, including the ones who have so far felt negative about the April revolution," Pravda said. In their pitch to groups opposing the Afghan government from abroad and within the country, Babrak and various Soviet officials have begun admitting with unusual candor the mistakes they say were made after the Afghan leader was in- stalled in December 1979. In addition, the Afghan government seems to be mounting a public relations campaign abroad. Last week, Babrak gave a rare interview to Asahi, Ja- pan's leading newspaper. Yesterday Afghanistan's envoy here invited about 20 Moscow-based re- porters from western, Asian and neutral countries on a week-long trip to Afg*i tan. Visas for western journalists to visit Afghan- istan usually take months to process and are sel- dom approved. The increased contact between Afghans and foreign journalists coincides with greatly in- creased coverage of the Afghan war in the Soviet press in recent months. The purposes of the concerted efforts, accord- ing to the analyses of western and Asian diplo- mats here, are: ^ To redress the tactical mistakes made during the first few years of Soviet occupation, when the opposition to rebel forces was rock-hard, western coverage of the fighting was mostly clandestine and there was virtually no Soviet reporting; is To pave the way for improved relations be- tween the Soviet Union and the United States, China and other countries for which the war is proving a stumbling block; ? To strengthen Moscow's hand for eventual negotiations for a political solution in the six- year-old war. Many western analysts in the Soviet capital in- terpret the efforts to expand the political base of the Babrak-led government as a clear-cut signal that a Kremlin-backed political solution would in- volve a continuation of the present Afghan regime. The Soviet leadership is indicating that it might agree to "some changes in the composition of the Afghan government," according to one senior western diplomat in Moscow, "but that the regime there now is the one it expects to stay-with or without a political solution." During the U.S.-Soviet summit meeting in November, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev im- pressed some senior U.S. officials with his open support of a political solution to the war in Af- ghanistan. However, since the summit. Soviet officials have repeated the Kremlin policy that cites "out- side interference"-including U.S. and Pakistani- backed rebel forces-as the reason for the pro? longation of the war. [Afghanistan's U.N. Ambassador Farid Zarif said today that his government is ready to reveal the timetable for Soviet troop withdrawal from his country if Pakistan agrees to hold direct ne- gotiations about a border dispute, United Press International reported. [Zarif told a news conference: "Pakistan will be pleasantly surprised by the timetable. We are ready to trade our last card (the timetable) any. time Pakistan wants to see it on condition that Pakistan talks directly to us."]. At the Afghan communist party meeting in mid-November, Babrak appealed for a political dialogue with Afghan groups that had opposed his government. Pravda said Dec. 21, "Reconciliation presup- poses known compromises." The Babrak govern- ment, it added, has declared "its readiness to ad- mit representatives of various strata and groups into the leading bodies of state authority." The editorial, published a week before the sixth anniversary of the Soviet invasion on Dec. 27, 1979, also specified with unusual frankness Moscow's view of the mistakes made in the early years of Babrak's rule. "A considerable number of people fell for mendacious counterrevolu- tionary propaganda," Pravda said. "Errors of the first stage of revolution-pas- sion for revolutionary phrases, enforcement of social reforms without due account for the real situation, social and national specifics of the country-had a negative effect.too," it said. But neither the Soviet officials nor Babrak have indicated publicly whether their outreach to opponents of the revolution would include com- promises with the Islamic guerrillas who form the bulwark of resistance. They firmly oppose recognition of the government and any form of negotiation with Babrak. Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/12 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000403740007-0