Reason Behind Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan

It’s strange to see that many people cannot understand the reason behind the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan. The Soviets are following Lenin’s exhortation, in 1923: “Who rules India, rules the world.” Afghanistan is the gateway to India and must be made into a Soviet satellite even if it means the extermination of a nation.

The blame for this situation must be placed on former President Jimmy Carter. If President Carter, in 1978, had fully supported the Shah of Iran, as had six U.S. Presidents before him, in the best interest of the United States, the Soviets would never have dared this adventure in Afghanistan. Iran, under the shah, was a stabilizing influence on all the surrounding nations, had a powerful military force and was an important friend of the United States. In 1973, during the Middle East war, the shah supplied 5 1/2 million barrels of oil per day to the United States, as well as a million barrels per day to other Western countries. Without his help, the Western industrial nations would have collapsed.

How quickly we forget our friends! When the shah’s regime was under siege by the Ayatollah Khomeini, with the help of the Soviet Union, and was overthrown, the United States turned its back in indifference. When the shah, as a refugee in this country, was dying of cancer, President Carter deported him to Panama, leaving the way open for his possible extradition to Iran’s Khomeini. Is this the way for the United States to treat a true friend?

Our only hope is that our government, under President Ronald Reagan, can contain the brutality of man that is communism, whether it is in Afghanistan or Cuba or Nicaragua.

K. SIEGFRIED MARGULIES

Los Angeles