Date: 1981-06-04
Speaker: ROBERT C. BYRD (democrat)
Chamber: S

Mr. President. in November 1955. as a member of a House Foreign Affairs Committee delegation which toured the Middle East and Far East. I wrote a newsletter to my constituents expressing serious concerns over the growing Soviet influence in Afghanistan. I should like to quote from portions of that newsletter which relate the concerns I had during our visit to Afghanistan 26 years ago. Afghanistan is a remote and very backward country and much of the territory borders upon Russia. Ours is the first Congressional Committee ever to visit this lolated and barren land. and the committee is deeply concerned as a result of Its findings. All signs at the moment point to a growing Soviet Influence. and there is fear that the country will soon slip behind the Iron Curtain. The Soviets are constructing badly Fraded roads for the people of AfghantnIsn. and Bulganin will pay an o11clt visit to Kabul within the next few days. Afghanistans neutralist policy is showing signs of wear and. although the Afghans themselves. as a whole. seem to be very antiRussian In their thinking. the present ruling family Is leaning dangerously toward the USSR. Relations with Pakistan ae strained and King Zhir Shah seems to be unwittingly playing into the hands of the Communists by continuing to demand that certain terrltory in what is now Pakistan be set aside for the Pushtun tribes.... A crists of considerable significance is taking shape in Afghanistan as a result of the foregoing circumstances. The National Assembly will meet within the next day or so. .at which time the government will seek support of its policies. Should it be assured by the tribal chieftains of such support. we may expect to see Afghanistan press the demand against Pakistan for a sep. &rate Pushtun state and the Afghants will likely be aided and abetted by the Russians who will supply arms. We may then see Afghanistan. a country through whose mountain passes have streamed invading armies from the time of Alexander the Great. become a satellite of Russia and a highway over which Red armies will someday threaten Pakistan and the waterways and oil felds of the Middle East In June 1973. the parliamentary constitutional monarchy in Afghanistan was overthrown in a military coup led by the deposed monarchs brother. Lt. Gen. Daud Khan. In 1974. President Daud declared that his government would sup* June 4. .1981 port the Independence movements in Pakistans two border Orovinces of Baluchistan and the northwest frontier. For the first time in 26 years. regular troops from Pakistan and Afghanistan faced each other across the Durand line. During President Dauds rule. from 1973 until April 1978. the Soviet presence in Afghanistan grew substantially. as the Soviet Union poured in aid and military advisers in an effort to exert greater political control on this nonaligned country. However. Afghanistan. which is 9 percent Moslem. proved nearly impossible for the Soviets to bring into their orbit as a satellite. As a result. President Daud was overthrown in April 1978. Diplomats familiar with the situation felt the Immediate provocation for the coup wr.a the Government crackdown on Afgha~n Communists. Three days later. the Soviet Union recognized the new Government. headed by Nur Taraki. chairman of the Marxist. proMoscow KhalqParcham party. The Soviets had high hopes that they could exert significantly more Influence with a Marxist in power. But diplomats predicted that Taraki would hesitate to create an orthodox Communist state In so devoutly a Moslem country. In October of that year. the Soviet presence tripled. However. the resistance to having a Marxist president of. and a growing Soviet presence in. Afghanistan began to manifest itself early In 1979. In January. the West received the first reports of antiGovernmentt guerrillas. fighting in the name of Islam. threatening a provincial capital In eastern Afghanistan. On February 14. 1979. U.S. Ambassador Adolph Dubs was killed in a shootout between police and Moslem gunmen. who had kidnaped him in an attempt to win the freedom of three Shilte clergymen held by the government. It was reported. from reliable sources. that Soviet advisers were involved with the Afghan police when the shooting occurred. In March of 1979. the Moslem rebellion was spreading and Increasing in intensity. There was a major uprising in Herat (west of Kabul) In which diplomats re. ported at least a dozen Soviet advisers being slain. On April 13. 1979. the New York Times reported that U.S. intelligence officlals were estimating that as many as 100 ol the estimated 3.000 Soviet military ad. visers In Afghanistan may have died in the spreading rebellion against the Kabul government. The Times also reported that in addition to serving a. advisers. Soviet personnel were said t be playing a growing role in the fight. Ing. including pilotig helicopters anc fighter planes and directing artillery fire On August 13. 1979. four Afghan rebe groups issued a communique announcini they were United into a single organi Zation whose aim was to overthrow th. government of President Tarakl. O September 16. it was announced tha Tarakl had resigned and Premier Hafl zullah Amin had taken over as President It was determined later that Taraki ha been killed in a shootout in the Presi dential Palace on September 14. In December 1997. the Soviet Unloi moved three army divisions to Its borde with Afghanistan. On December 26. the Soviets began an aroundtheclock airlift of troops into Afghanistan and the invasion was underway. On December 27. Amin was replaced by Deputy Premier Babrak Karmal and a day later. Karmal announced that the Soviet Union had agreed to a new program of urgent. political. moral. and economic assistance. including military aid. Mr. President. I hark back to my newsletter of 26 years ago. In many ways. what we found on our trip to that country was prophetic for both the Soviet Union and the West. The Soviets. through political Intrigue. manipulation* coupe. and even assassinations could never force the Afghan people to submit to being their satellite. The antiRussian feelings we found among the Afghan people In 1955 grew with each stage of increased Soviet presence in that country. It burst into widespread rebellion when the decidedly proMoscow govemment of Nur Taraki was installed in a Sovietbacked coup in April of 1978. We have seen a succession of governments over the years. toppled because of their inability to impose an alien Ideology and government on a people who are fiercely independent and whose deepseated Moslem beliefs do not allow them to accept Marxism. The West can take little comfort in the dilemma in which the Soviets find themselves in Afghanistan. Soviet tanks roll over those very roads the Russians were constructing in 1955. And today. Afghanistan. a country through whose mountain passes have streamed invading armies from the time of Alexander the Great. has. in fact. become an occupied satellite of the Soviet Union and a highway over which Red armies can threaten Pakistan and the waterways and oil fields of the Middle East. What the Soviets could not accomplish politically. they are now attempting to accomplish militarily. That Is why we must continue to ask: Afghanistandare we forget?