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From: rak1@magic.UUCP (Rajesh Kumar)
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Re: Afghan rebels and Contras:  a difference
Message-ID: <675@magic.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 20-Mar-86 22:15:19 EST
Article-I.D.: magic.675
Posted: Thu Mar 20 22:15:19 1986
Date-Received: Wed, 26-Mar-86 18:54:21 EST
References: <1466@decwrl.DEC.COM> <34@gilbbs.UUCP>
Organization: Bell Communications Research, Inc, Morristown, NJ
Lines: 42


DISCLAIMER: I fully support the efforts by the Afghan resistance to
            kick the Soviet Communists out of their land.


>     It would seem virtually impossible for the Afghan to commit what
> is normally called terrorism, i.e. kill innocent civilians in order to
> frighten and otherwise "promote" their cause. The only remote
> possibility would be if the Soviets were still bringing any of their
> families to Afghanistan to accompany them while they serve. Knowing
> something of conditions there, this is extremely unlikely. Hence the
> only people that Afghan guerrillas can logically attack are the Soviet
> military, as you already said -- unless one supposes that they've
> taken to killing their own people indiscriminately... 

There are in Afghanistan a small minority of collaborators who have
profited politically and economically from the Soviet occupation. The
membership of the previously insignificant Afghan Communist Party has
increased during the Soviet occupation. Often, these Afghan communists
and collaborators (and sometimes their families) are targets of the
Afghan resistance. Although this is not terrorism in the purest sense
of the word, you do have Afghans killing other Afghans [and not 
indiscriminately]. Also, remember that Afghanistan is a socially
and politically backward country, and it has had a long history of
tribal clashes, vendetta killings etc. long before the Soviet occupation.

> which, of
> course, is what our CIA-pimped Contras apparently were doing when they
> were still in Nicaragua, instead of back in Honduras where they are
> now.

That's right! The Contras have been known to kill peasants/townsfolk
indiscriminately. I'd like them better if they confined their executions
to the Sandanista top brass.

> tom Schlesinger
> Plymouth State College
> Plymouth, N.H. 03264
> decvax!dartvax!psc70!psc90!tos

R. Kumar
Bellcore, Morristown, New Jersey