Afghan Rally Marks 6th Anniversary of Soviet Invasion

Zia Nassry stood among his Afghanistan compatriots and critiqued their chant.

“Long Live Moujahedeen! Long Live Moujahedeen!”

“Listen to that-- moujahedeen, “ Nassry said. “It should be ‘freedom fighters.’ The American public would understand that. Even Reagan, after six years, he cannot pronounce moujahedeen.”

If there was a magic phrase that would have attracted the masses Friday to the downtown rally to commemorate and condemn the sixth anniversary of the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan, the demonstrators never found it.

Turnout Very Low

A crowd of 1,000 had been predicted by organizers, but the turnout was only about 200, the vast majority being Afghan immigrants. Two politicians expected to lend support, Rep. Robert J. Lagomarsino (R-Ojai) and Supervisor Michael J. Antonovich, called late to say they couldn’t make it, organizers said.

The 200, though, were ardent. They met at Pershing Square on Friday morning, chanting such slogans as “ Nyet , Nyet Soviet” and “Gorbachev, Gorbachev, you can’t hide . . . We accuse you of genocide,” then marched to City Hall for more speeches and chants.

The speakers sounded a common theme: Six years after the Soviets invaded Afghanistan to bolster a puppet government and began a campaign of terror that has reportedly claimed 1 million Afghan lives, the poorly equipped Afghan rebel forces still control 90% of the countryside. The rebel forces, against impossible odds, are making advances, they said.

But, some speakers argued, there must be more aggressive support from the U.S. government--not just covert aid, but overt shipment of military supplies to arm the rebels. “Give us the tools, we will finish the job. . . . Especially the surface-to-air missiles,” said one speaker.

As the crowd chanted “God Is Great” in Arabic, Sakhi Farhad of Buena Park stood holding the hand of his granddaughter, who wore red running shoes along with her traditional Afghan garb. Farhad is also a member of the Free Afghanistan Alliance, a group of about 500 in Southern California.

Ignored by Media

“The news media is so busy with other news in the world,” Farhad said. “For example, if one white man is killed in South Africa, all of the media speaks of it.” But there is little news about entire Afghan villages destroyed by Soviet helicopter gunships, he said. “Maybe the village has one machine gun. What can a machine gun do against gunships and bombs?”

Farhad was asked if the Afghan groups in the United States try to directly fund and supply the rebel forces. He smiled and shrugged. “Not officially.”

Afghans of different political slants joined together for the rally, from self-described “rational liberals” such as Nassry to a fundamentalist group, Hezb-i-Islam. One subgroup broke into a chant of “Long Live Islamic Rule in Afghanistan.”

Nassry seemed irritated. The war would not be won here. Nassry said he has extensive contacts with the rebel forces and will soon enter Afghanistan himself to try to improve guerrilla warfare techniques in urban centers controlled by the Soviets.

And although it wasn’t in evidence Friday, one demonstrator said he believes a groundswell of support will emerge in the United States.

“The American public is begining to romanticize about Afghanistan,” said Nake Kamrany, a USC economics professor and a native of Afghanistan. “Here is a very poor people, a fourth-rate or fifth-rate power, in a standstill with the Soviets!

“It really belies logic, doesn’t it?”