Speech #960277503

As a result of Afghan resistance. Soviet jets. helicopter gunships and amored vehicles have in an apparent change of tactics reduced 50 to 60 Afghan villages to rubble during the past several weeks to retaliate for rebel ambushes. The raids have caused thousands of additional casualties and sent streams of refugees toward the Afghan capital and across the nations borders. In desperation. the Soviets are reported to be using nerve gas. napalm. and biological weapons. There are also reports of injuries said to have been caused by boobytrapped toys and other objects dropped by Soviet troops In Afghanistan. Apparently the items are dropped in bundles through aircraft or helicopters and have timing devices that prevent their premature explosion. It is my feeling that the reports of the incarceration of political prisoners. of the executions. of the destruction -of Afghan villages. of the use of gases. has not received the attention it merits. Certainly the plight of the more than 1 million Afghan refugees who have already fled their homeland has gone largely unnoticed. In short. a major conflict is raging in Afghanistan. The human suffering inflicted by the Soviets on the people of Afghanistanthe dead. the wounded. the jailed. the displacedis enormous.