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International relations experts in the Government department said yesterday that the Soviet Union's recent intervention in Afghanistan was a part of Soviet military expansion and that the United States should respond with economic sanctions against the Soviet Union.
Nadav Safran, professor of Government, said yesterday that the United States is one of the few countries that "is not afraid" of the Soviet Union and should use "economic weapons" to fight Soviet aggression.
The Soviet intervention poses a serious threat to our oil supply from the Persian Gulf, Samuel P. Huntington, Thomson Professor of Government, said yesterday.
Stop, In the Name of Gov
Huntington said the United States should stop its exports of equipment and technology to the Soviet Union to protest this "clear cut invasion."
The Soviet Union sent a motorized rifle division into Afghanistan Dec. 27 after a Soviet air-borne division captured former President Hafizullah Amin at Darulaman Palace. Amin was executed after his capture and Babrak Karmal, who some experts believe is a Soviet puppet, returned from exile in Eastern Europe to take power.
The new government has said it invited the Soviet troops into Afghanistan.
The United States should take collective action with its allies, Huntington said, adding that the United Nations should act in response to the Soviet aggression.
Joseph S. Nye Jr., professor of Government, also said yesterday that the United States needs its allies support in combatting Soviet expansion. "The United States' actions depend on how far our allies are willing to go. Our action is closely geared to their actions--the West should show cohesion in the way they treat the matter."
Symbolic
The Soviet aggression in Afghanistan is symbolic of Soviet expansionism since 1968, he added.
Joel S. Migdal, associate professor of Government, said yesterday the United States government should be aware that Afghanistan's strategic importance is low, and that the United States should not take drastic measures to reprimand Soviet intervention there. "It is important to maintain world stability," he said.
"There has been a pattern of Soviet military expansion in Africa as well as in Czechoslovakia. When Carter says that the last two weeks have shown him more about the Soviets than the last four years it shows a great failing on his part," Migdal added.
Some professors said they believed this recent act of Soviet aggression will affect the ratification of the SALT II treaty.
Huntington said the SALT II treaty would be ratified by the Senate if the economic sanctions were carried out successfully.
"It has been a close call all along and this makes it even closer," Nye said
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