Retrospect:

Aggressors Get Out of Afghanistan!

The recent military occupation of Afghanistan by the Soviet social-imperialists, writes Zeri i Popullit, has sparked off a wave of great anger amongst the progressive and freedom-loving people of the whole world. The present intervention is an act of aggression not only against all of the peoples of the region of the Middle East, against international peace and security.

This is a fascist type of aggression, identical to the occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1968. It is a new edition, both from the point of view of the military action, as well as from the point of view of the arguments which were used to justify it. The Soviet social imperialists are trying to present the occupation of Afghanistan as ‘legitimate’, allegedly carried out according to a request for aid made by the Afghan government on the basis of the so-called ‘friendship’ treaty which exists between the two countries and to defend Afghanistan from external intervention, etc.

All these so-called arguments are just as stale as they are confused. They have been used by all aggressors at all times.

The fact is that the Soviet social-imperialists had carefully prepared the ground for this occupation beforehand, intervening and aggravating the situation inside the country in their favour and binding Afghanistan with the chains of enslaving treaties which the Soviet social-imperialists use openly as instruments to occupy other peoples and countries or to keep them under their dependence and control. The fall of the monarchy and later on of Daoud was a cynical utilization by the Moscow rulers of the desires of the Afghan people for liberation because the people felt the heavy burden of the oppression and exploitation of the monarchy and feudalism and their Soviet allies and wanted to see their country free and sovereign,

To disguise their imperialist aims and to realise these aims as quickly as possible, the staff in the Kremlin brutally interfered in Afghanistan, bringing their own people to power there and eliminating them one after another in their efforts to find the most suitable and obedient to Moscow. The Soviet Union is not interested in either the freedom or independence of Afghanistan as is claimed or in the liberation of the much-suffering people of that country. What interests Moscow the most is Afghanistan’s strategic position in the Middle East, its proximity to the oil resources, its key position in a major region where the savage rivalry between the two superpowers is developing.

The occupation of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union occurred at a time when the United States of America is carrying out broad scale activities to exert pressure and exercise blackmail against Iran, when it is carrying out full-scale economic and political aggression against that country accompanied with a demonstration of force and threats of military intervention. From this angle, the events in Iran and Afghanistan are closely linked and other events of this nature could occur in that region. This shows the intensity of the rivalry between the United States of America and the Soviet Union in the Middle East and the Indian Ocean, what a great and threatening danger the two superpowers pose to the countries of that region,

Their aim is to attack and suppress the revolutionary movements of the people, to stop them from breaking away from the hegemony of imperialism and social-imperialism, to obstruct the peoples from entering the road of independent national and democratic development. The barbarous aggression of the Soviet social-imperialists against Afghanistan, the ceaseless threats of aggression being made by the American imperialists and the intrigues of the Chinese social-imperialists in those regions are fraught with immense dangers for world peace and security. These acts refute all the deafening noise which the superpowers are making about the alleged preservation of peace and stability, their manoeuvres to lower the vigilance of the peoples and countries which are threatened by their hegemonic and expansionist policy.

The events in Iran and Afghanistan prove that precisely at a time when the imperialists and social-imperialist superpowers are screaming themselves hoarse about peace, lowering of tensions, disarmament, etc., they are preparing aggression against the freedom and independence of the peoples.

The occupation of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union, continues Zeri i Popullit, is a product of its expansionist and aggressive strategy. It once more clearly demonstrates today that aggression and the use of military force constitute the most typical feature of Soviet foreign policy. In rivalry with American imperialism, Soviet social-imperialism has done its utmost, employing all manner of means to secure new strategic positions and extend its sphere of control and domination in Asia, Africa and Latin America and everywhere else. In these efforts they utilise every means, from diplomatic and political manoeuvres to military violence. But when the peoples take their fate into their own hands the defence of their just cause and rise in revolution such as occurred in Iran, the superpowers suffer heavy and irreparable defeat to their hegemonic positions. After occupying Afghanistan and putting it under their iron military heel, the Soviet social-imperialists are now trying to pacify public opinion that allegedly it only sent a few contingents there temporarily, for as long as is necessary, but in reality there is no limit to their stay. They will act in exactly the same way in Afghanistan as they did in Czechoslovakia, where to this day after 12 years, their occupation troops are still in that country. No matter what promises or justifications the Soviet social-imperialists use, they can never be able to cover up the grave crime they have committed against the freedom, independence and national sovereignty of Afghanistan. No one, no matter under what pretext, has the right of intervene in the internal affairs and life of other peoples or countries. Only the peoples are powerful and have the right to decide on the internal problems of their countries without any external interference.

On the other hand the hypocritical demagogy of the American imperialists and the Chinese social-imperialists which are trying to present themselves as alleged defenders of Afghanistan and are shedding crocodile tears over its fate can fool no one. In these turbulent situations, the American imperialists are trying to profit for themselves, to justify their military threats against Iran and other countries of the Middle East. The peoples have not forgotten the criminal war of the American imperialists in Indochina and elsewhere; they have not forgotten the criminal fascist-type aggression of the Chinese social-imperialists against Vietnam just as they can never forget Czechoslovakia, Afghanistan etc.

They know only too well that the American imperialists, the Soviet and Chinese social imperialists and all the imperialists and other reactionaries, are equally aggressive and bloodthirsty, that they are enemies until death of the freedom and independence of the peoples, that they strike and conclude all sorts of bargains and agreements to the detriment of the peoples. The events in Afghanistan and Iran, which affect all the peoples of the world, make the growth of their vigilance against the aggressive activity of imperialism and social-imperialism, their unity in the struggle against the aggressive expansionist and hegemonic policies of the superpowers, imperative. Now, the freedom loving fighters of Afghanistan have seized arms and are fighting courageously in the mountains and cities against the Soviet domination and its agents. They are setting lofty examples of courage and are everywhere proving their determination to always hold aloft the banner of freedom and national sovereignty to fight through to the end to oust the occupiers. In this just and legitimate struggle, they are enjoying and will always enjoy the support of the freedom-loving people and other honest and progressive people everywhere in the world.

This struggle is being aided powerfully by the Iranian revolution and people. Besides that, the Afghan fighters would be supported by all the freedom-loving Moslem peoples wherever they are; in particular the Arab and African peoples, who at present are under the greatest threat from American imperialism, must rise and powerfully express their fighting solidarity for the Iranian revolution and the Afghan uprising, for in this way they are fighting for their own freedom, independence and sovereignty. In this situation, with the stand they maintain, the leaders of these countries who truly defend the national interest and those of the people will be distinguished from those who sell out these interests to the foreigners.

The Arab people, who live in the rich oil-bearing region, but who are oppressed, poverty-stricken and exploited, concludes Zeri i Popullit, clearly witness the cruelty of the imperialists and neo-colonialists to their detriment. But we are convinced that the revolt which has commenced in those countries will never be extinguished. The modern armaments which the enemies may use, even the most sophisticated armaments, cannot operate without the oil which is the property of the peoples who are fighting for freedom and independence.

The Albanian people express the profound conviction that the courageous people of Afghanistan will deal crushing blows to the Soviet social-imperialist aggressors and will oust them from their homeland.

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