CONFIDENTIAL
to the markets of Peshawar so as not to alienate the Afghan public. By contrast, the Russians were trying to starve out people in the valleys of the Hindu Kush. Asked about the lack of unity among the mujahideen, he said that a multiplicity of groups made the resistance movement harder for the Russians to overcome.
45. This thought was also expressed by two members of the Afghan resistance whom I met in Peshawar - Sayid Bahouddin Majood, ex- Professor of Modern Philosophy at Kabul University, now Director of the Afghan Information Centre in Peshawar, and Sayid Fazl Akbar, the Deputy Director who had once worked for the Pashto Service of Radio Moscow. Both had left Kabul towards the end of 1980.
They passed on the news, with evident satisfaction, that another Soviet soldier had recently been captured, this time by Mohammedi's group, and added that that the mujahideen were at last beginning to realise the propaganda advantages of taking prisoners. [I am not clear whether the soldier in question was one of the three Soviet prisoners who were given publicity in the world press a week or so ago.] They were extremely interested in Polish affairs and wanted to know whether the USSR would get bogged down there in a military intervention.
They obviously thought that this would have an effect on the Soviet position in Afghanistan.
-
46. One other rencontre deserves a mention a chance call on
Khursid Hassan Mir, a lawyer and a former member of the Pakistan People's Party the only opposition politician I met. He referred to Zia as a stupid man with the lust for power, adding that people were fed up with him but could do nothing. The policy of Islamisation as it affected the courts was an attempt to undermine the rule of law bequeathed by the British. Yet in supporting him over Afghanistan the West had helped to consolidate his power.
47. Be that as it may, and judging solely by my brief visits to Karachi, Taxila and Peshawar (apart from Islamabad itself), Zia appears to be presiding over a reasonably prosperous country with a great potential for economic growth, provided the political situation remains relatively stable.
CONFIDENTIAL
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.