THE SIGNING of the agreement between the USSR, Pakistan, and the United States for withdrawal of Soviet troops Afghanistan now allows attention to be concentrated on the nature of the two forces that have been fighting in that country. The Soviet withdrawal will be phased over nine months. The 'mujahedin' fighting the Afghan government have stated they will ignore the Accord. The United States will continue to supply them.
There is no doubt regarding the character of the mujahedin. Their social Afghan leadersnD landlords. The polllical programme is vicious reaction against ATOnal workers, Afghan peasants, and Afghan women. They have viscerally opposed the secularisation of the state, equality for women, and particularly the agrarian reform implemented by the Kabul regime since 1978. In a nutshell, they are a reag noiav wicc uauc uau feudalists, arch-reactionary religious fanatics, monarchists and every other possible SCimWCCaT0C found Afghanistan.
Their entry into Kabul anuld aian the phisical annihilation vanguard of the Afghan working class.
This character of the mujahedin is thoroughly understood by international cabla. Uuenlas Dald bloodbath' was the title of the central article in the Sunday limes summarising the accord on 17 April. The internatondl Herald Tribune's headline was •Despite Accord, Chaos Is Nation's Destiny".
The Economist went the furthest when it COllE mented "The Afghans may settle their own differences violently... within a year the top .тей nunered Afghan communists will be in retirement in Russia, and any left behind will be as rare as French collaborators after 1945'.
This agreement should be the occasion for the British left, which has been largely supporting unest reactionaries, to take stock of its position. The Atghan mujaheddin represent one ol tne most ooscurantisi Islamic fundamentalist forces in the world. They do ot even have the merit, id the Khomenists in Ira oi naving overtnrown te shah. They are propped u MuncaDols alu HUH by imperialism and their DaruCulary reactionary client regimes — noradry Saudi Arabia and Pakistan The other finances of the mujahedin have come from the massive internationa drug traffic conducted from their base in Peshawar Pakistan It is a matter of disgra that the British left, unde the guise of 'anti-Sovietism has been supporting this scum who if they come to power will wipe out, through physical annhinilation, traces of com munism, liberalism, working class organisauon, any other organised form wHu Lucy Consiuc susoce - undoubtedly including any organisation of women in Afghanistan. The killing of 600,000 communists by the Suharto forces in Indonesia in 1965 should pro. vide some sort of model foi what the mujahedin represent.
The social reality of the situation in Afghanistan nasse exaCuc difficult. It has been made Soviet bureaucratic methods. But there is no doubt wnien side SOCaIss NOUk be in in that war. It is a bat battle between a bureaucrati. progrest the mint rea "progressive regime tionary forces in the work Socialists should stand quivocably, as they ent does not win the pric wrill ibe
DESPITE this year's NUS conference being widely Socialist Action common political thread only consistent fight for a