Chinese Urge Soviets to Quit Afghanistan : Let Afghans Solve Their Own Problems, People’s Daily Says

China’s Communist Party newspaper today urged the Soviet Union to withdraw its troops unconditionally from Afghanistan, declaring that the Soviets’ six-year occupation has resulted in a military stalemate.

“Let the Afghan people solve their own problems without outside interference,” the People’s Daily said in a commentary marking the anniversary of the Dec. 27, 1979, Soviet military intervention in the Central Asian country.

In Bangladesh, meanwhile, Chinese Foreign Minister Wu Xueqian told reporters today that the Soviet Union “should put forward a timetable for withdrawal of troops . . . and implement it.”

Wu was on a three-day visit to Bangladesh. He left for Thailand today en route home.

The People’s Daily said the Soviet presence has not only destroyed peace in Asia but also “constitutes a threat to the security of China.” A narrow sliver of northeast Afghanistan borders on China’s Xinjiang autonomous region.

It said Moscow’s only way out is through a political settlement, and called on the Soviets to “take practical action to eliminate this threat to improve Chinese-Soviet relations.”

One of 3 Major Issues

The presence of Soviet troops in Afghanistan has been one of three major issues straining relations between Moscow and Peking. The other issues are Soviet support for Vietnam’s invasion of Cambodia and large Soviet troop deployments along the border with China.

Western diplomats have estimated that Moscow has 115,000 troops in Afghanistan, but the People’s Daily put the number at 120,000. The first troops were sent to support Marxist leader Babrak Karmal in toppling the existing Marxist government, but more were sent to help put down Muslim insurgents.

The People’s Daily said the Afghan resistance has grown to more than 100,000 troops.

“Six years of the valiant struggle of the Afghan people has once again proved that a weak nation can surely defeat aggressors . . . as long as it is united and dares to fight,” it said.

The commentary said Moscow has shown no sincerity in seeking a political settlement, its “only way out.”

The English-language China Daily reported today that some disillusioned Soviet soldiers in Afghanistan have defected to the resistance or sold their rifles for wine.