In for the long haul

...The April 1 Izvestia, for example, described initiatives by the Afghan Council of Ministries directed at resolving social and economic questions, mechanizing farms, and improving education...

...And the Soviet press sought to counter Western radio reports of the UN debate on Afghanistan by protraying the deliberation as a propaganda ploy of the U.S...

...for an embarrassing seven days, article after article, headline after headline, referred to Afghan Prime Minister Babrak Karmal as Karmal Babrak...

...Interested Soviet citizens do have alternative sources of information on Afghanistan—Western radio broadcasts and samizdat...

...ADRIAN KARATNYCKY (Adrian Karatnycky has written on Soviet and East European affairs for Commonweal, the New Leader, the New Republic, and other journals...

...The point of this article and others was clear...

...Yet on January 17, the Soviet press reported that Amin was a CIA agent intent on reversing the gains of the April 1978 revolution and bringing his country into the imperialist sphere...

...But these dispatches were followed in several days with reports indicating that "the situation was normalizing in the Afghan capital...

...This degree of candor does not mean that Soviet reports have avoided sensationalism and wild charges...

...Irma Zholkhovskaya-Ginzburg, the wife of former political prisoner Alexander Ginzburg, for example, indicated widespread concern outside the dissident community over the invasion and spoke of rumors of great numbers of Soviet casualties in Afghanistan...

...In late February, both Pravda and Izvestia carried articles explicitly acknowledging "widespread unrest" in Kabul and throughout Afghanistan...

...It was only on December 28 that Pravda carried the text of an appeal by Babrak Karmal to his "suffering fellow countrymen," without any mention of Soviet involvement...

...Signs of this can be seen in the way that the Kremlin's mouthpiece, the centrally controlled Soviet press, has handled the Afghanistan events...

...A report from Pravda's correspondents in Kabul on January 6 spoke of "ominous news from the southern and eastern borders of the country" and indicated that Maoist "grouplets" were circulating leaflets in Kabul urging the masses to struggle against the new regime...

...Charges of direct CIA intervention are all-pervasive...

...At a time when Soviet soldiers have just begun digging in, it is too early for anyone in the USSR to expect to see the light at the end of the tunnel...

...Most surprising has been the Soviets' remarkable candor in discussing the problems faced in Afghanistan...

...In later reports, other leaders began to intrude into the reportage, suggesting that the Soviets wish to keep their options open and may be preparing their population for the possibility of a change in leadership...

...Not until the next day did the Soviet press report an "Appeal Commonweal: 294 from the Government of Afghanistan" requesting "immediate political, moral, and economic help, including military assistance...

...In February, the Literary Gazette published a graphic photo of armed men beating a bound and naked prisoner who is suspended by the legs...

...Another provocateur in Lee's company, we are told, was carrying hostile, leaflets and "a packet of heroin...

...Attacks on Radio Liberty and the Voice of America have continued to escalate and indeed reached a high-point in late March, when Western radio services began to broadcast accounts of the Soviet use of chemical warfare in Afghanistan...

...The way the editors of Pravda, lzvestia, and the Literary Gazette have been commenting on Afghanistan tands to confirm the view that Soviet leaders are anxious about the potential dissatisfaction of their Moslem peoples with the invasion...

...Confusion among Soviet journalists was immediately evident...

...The Soviets initially indicated to the world that their invasion was made at the request of the government of Afghanistan, then led by Hafizullah Amin...

...Dissidents who have recently emigrated report growing dismay among the citizenry...

...It was outsiders, bandits, and CIA agents, but not the residents of Kabul, who fomented disorder in the capital on February 23...

...Thus, in essence, readers were asked to believe that an agent of the CIA asked the Soviets to intervene to establish order...

...Almost from the outset, Karmal became a kind of media celebrity...

...Izvestia, for example, has run a report which quotes an Afghan Imam from Mazari-Sharif, the moulavi Gavur as saying, "We entreat the Almighty to send us peace...

...The February 5th Izvestia carried the text of a speech by Boris Ponomarev, , Candidate Member of the Politburo, who is quoted as saying, "The Afghan authorities and the Afghan population have established amicable relations with the Soviet military...

...It is of course difficult if not impossible to make sweeping interpretations of Soviet policy solely on the basis of articles and commentaries in the Soviet press...

...And the continued extensiveness of Soviet coverage of events in Afghanistan suggests that the Soviet leadership is sensitive to the possibility of dissatisfaction on the part of the USSR's population...

...For the first four days of the invasion, no mention was made of the Soviet action...

...In fact there is only mention of Afghans fulfilling military functions...

...Soviet press IN FOR THE LONG HAUL REPORTING THE LINE ON AFGHANISTAN EVEN IN THE SOVIET UNION leaders face difficulties in justifying international actions that meet with nearly universal condemnation and may, in addition, demand public sacrifices...

...He was mentioned in virtually every report and commentary in the two dailies for well over a month, and his numerous press conferences were given much attention...

...Moreover, readers were expected to believe that the CIA was fomenting an uprising against the government of one of its agents...

...The report ended with the ominous note that "the Soviet leadership favorably responded to the request from Afghanistan...

...The caption below the photograph reads: "This is how Afghan bandits, armed with American and Chinese weapons, settle scores with an activist of the April Revolution...

...Reading the Soviet press indicates that the leadership of the USSR has been more than slightly irritated by Western radio broadcasts beamed into the Soviet Union...

...And Izvestia had featured a story on Afganistan’s “widely celebrated Moslem holiday—the day of Mohammed's birth...

...Nowhere in the Soviet press has any indication been given of the size of the Soviet military force in Afghanistan...

...Nowhere did the account refute charges that "Kabul is in disorder" and that "tension is evident throughout Afghanistan...

...But Izvestia has reported that the USSR and Afghanistan have entered into a treaty "on the conditions governing the temporary presence of a limited contingent of Soviet troops on the territory of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan...

...A February 6 article in the influential weekly Literary Gazette, entitled "Why the Gunshots Resound," gave an account of the assassination of Major Mohammed Naurn and his family in the heart of Kabul...

...There are no clashes between Afghans and our soldiers, as all manner of 'radio' has been dishonestly disseminating...

...That this treaty's ratification was felt to be necessary indicates that no Soviet withdrawal is anticipated in the short run...

...We oppose those who, while hiding behind the name of Allah, have sold themselves for dollars and pounds and are attempting to crush the April Revolution, whose ideas have sounded a vibrant note in the hearts of the honest Moslems of Afghanistan...

...For the first week, Izvestia and Pravda couldn't get the name of the new leader of Afghanistan right...

...The story told the Soviet public that attempts are being made to sow "panic within the populace...

...The invasion of Afghanistan caught the usually wellprepared reporters and analysts of the USSR's most authoritative dailies, Pravda and lzvestia , by surprise...

...Izves-tiatold of the arest Robert Le, a 29-year-old American seized by Afghan authorities and charged with "attempting to foment an uprising...

...A recent émigré from Kiev reports that the sight of caskets being unloaded from airplanes at the airport of the Ukrainian capital was the source of widespread comment and anxiety...

...23 May 1980: 295 A number of topics remain taboo...

...and China...

...Nor has any mention been made of Soviet casualties...

...Thus the recent step-up of repressions against dissidents who produce samizdat comes as no surprise...

...Yet the pervasive propaganda campaign and its emphasis on American, Chinese, and Pakistani intervention suggest that the Soviet leadership, through its press, is preparing its citizenry for a protracted and difficult Soviet involvement...

...Rather it blamed this state of affairs on Washington and Peking...

...Izvestia's reporter indicated that Lee was a graduate in chemical engineering from Berkeley, "well known as a 'foundry' for the manufacture of the spy cadre of the CIA...

...Foremost among those mentioned are Foreign Minister Mohammed Dost, who represented Afghanistan in the United Nations debates and whose March visit to the USSR received extensive coverage, Justice Minister A. Arian, and the Deputy Head of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan, Asadulla Sarvari...

...An April article began to emphasize the stability and humaneness of the regime...

...Further embellishments were added to this scenario when Babrak Karmal, hoping to use antiIsraeli sentiments to bolster Moslem support for his government, was quoted by Izvestia as indicating that Amin had entered into collaboration with Israeli intelligence...

...Clearly, the Soviet press has been indicating to the public that it can expect serious Soviet losses...