Mr. Brezhnev’s Doctrine Applied

Mr. Brezhnev’s Doctrine

Moscow has finally dropped the other shoe in Afghanistan. It has launched a full-fledged invasion with 45,000 or more combat troops, on top of the estimated eight to twenty thousand Soviet “advisors” already in the field. Washington has demanded the withdrawal of Soviet troops; the Kremlin has ignored the American message, as well as the protests of China, Britain, and numerous other governments. Shock-waves are reverberating throughout the Middle East, Europe, and Asia, and for the first time there is talk of international support for the 16-month-old struggle of the Afghan people against the Communist takeover initiated in April 1978. It is that spontaneous, ill-armed guerrilla resistance which has now forced the USSR to send in its own army in an effort to consolidate its puppet’s control over the fiercely independent Afghans—who may yet defeat even these efforts.

RK

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Rosanne T. Klass

Mr. Brezhnev’s Doctrine

Moscow has finally dropped the other shoe in Afghanistan. It has launched a full-fledged invasion with 45,000 or more combat troops, on top of the estimated eight to twenty thousand Soviet “advisors” already in the field. Washington has demanded the withdrawal of Soviet troops; the Kremlin has ignored the American message, as well as the protests of China, Britain, and numerous other governments. Shock-waves are reverberating throughout the Middle East, Europe, and Asia, and for the first time there is talk of international support for the 16-month-old struggle of the Afghan people against the Communist takeover initiated in April 1978. It is that spontaneous, ill-armed guerrilla resistance which has now forced the USSR to send in its own army in an effort to consolidate its puppet’s control over the fiercely independent Afghans—who may yet defeat even these efforts.