Soviet Afghanistan Role ‘Barbaric,’ Reagan Says
WASHINGTON — President Reagan, in a statement today marking the sixth anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, accused the Soviets of employing “barbaric methods of waging war†and called on Moscow to withdraw its troops and consent to U.N.-sponsored talks for a political settlement.
Reagan said the United States “stands squarely on the side of the people of Afghanistan and will continue in its support of their historic struggle in the cause of liberty.â€
An estimated 115,000 Soviet troops remain in Afghanistan to help battle Muslim guerrillas trying to overthrow the Marxist government of Babrak Karmal.
Saying that the Afghan resistance has grown increasingly effective, Reagan said: “The Soviets and their Afghan surrogates have resorted to barbaric methods of waging war in their effort to crush this war of national liberation.
“Indiscriminate air and artillery bombardments against civilian areas, savage reprisals against noncombatants suspected of supporting the resistance and the calculated destruction of crops and irrigation systems have ravaged the Afghan countryside.
“Thousands of young Afghans are being shipped to the Soviet Union for ‘re-education’ in summer camps, universities and specialized institutions.â€
In Moscow today, Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev called for political solutions to regional conflicts, including the one in Afghanistan, and urged the United States to help make 1986 a more peaceful year by joining Moscow’s unilateral nuclear test ban.
Gorbachev, speaking to ambassadors at a special year-end Kremlin reception, said his November summit meeting with President Reagan had helped improve the international climate, but much has to be done to reduce the threat of nuclear war.
“There is yet another major and acute problem,†Gorbachev said. “The Soviet Union is firmly set on seeing essential progress in 1986 in the cause of a political settlement in the Middle East, Central America, around Afghanistan, in southern Africa and in the Persian Gulf.â€
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