Democratic Palestine : 22 (ص 33)
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- Democratic Palestine : 22 (ص 33)
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DRA popular militias
Afghanis who were formerly with the
counterrevolution.
In April 1986, the DRA army
abolished the counterrevolutionaries’
complex at Zhawar, in the east of
Afghanistan, bordering Pakistan. This
was the climax of a previously begun
campaign to cut the counterrevolu-
tionaries’ supply and communications
lines with Pakistan, in order to bring an
end to their sabotage. Jane’s Defence
Weekly, which can hardly be con-
sidered sympathetic to the revolu-
tionary government in Afghanistan,
commented in its August 2, 1986 issue,
that the destruction of the Zhawar
complex «may turn out to be a turning
point in the war in Afghanistan, bring-
ing the suppression of the Afghani
resistance closer.» Jane’s also noted the
important contribution of the militias
alongside the DRA army, noting that
the militias contained many former
«resistance fighters» who know the
territory and the ways of the counter-
revolutionary bands. Jane’s also
verified the fact that the locally-based
counterrevolutionaries have tended to
cease fighting and «concentrated on
revival of the social and economic in-
frastructure,» which is exactly what the
DRA wants and needs.
The victory in Zhawar was followed
a few months later by a victory in
Herat, in the west, close to the Iranian
borders. Added to the Pashtun tribes’
closing their territory to the counter-
revolutionaries in 1985, these two vic-
tories have effectively sealed the
borders. By summer, numerous press
reports affirmed the recognition of
western political and intelligence circles
that the counterrevolutionaries were
increasingly on the defensive. Their
customary «December offensive»: was
notable this year only by its absence.
Enlightened voices in the western press
have pointed out that the US is now
faced with two alternatives: either to
negotiate seriously with the Soviets on:
Afghanistan, or to greatly escalate
support, perhaps to the point of pro-
viding troops, to the counterrevolu-
tionaries.
US support to the counterrevolu-
tionaries via Pakistan is «the largest
expenditure in a covert CIA operation
since the Vietnam war» (Los Angeles
Times, May 24, 1986.) This is an in-
vestment that the US administration
may not easily let default. Nor do cur-
rent events indicate a lessening of the
Reagan Administration’s hostility to
peace, the Soviet Union and newly in-
dependent countries. On the contrary,
the ‘Irangate/contras’ affair shows the
proportions which CIA operations can
assume under a retrograde administra-
tion like that of Reagan, in trying to
reverse the tide of history. The results
of ‘Irangate’, on the other hand, may
serve to limit the Reagan Administra-
tion’s ability to carry out its most ag-
gressive plans. It is only deplorable that
there has been so little domestic op-
position in the US itself to the CIA’s
‘Afghangate’. Now is the time for a
broad international campaign suppor-
ting the DRA’s peace initiative in order
to bring stability and progress to the
Afghani people. @
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