Experts Discuss Afghan Problem

Other countries should not try to negotiate with the Soviet Union on Afghanistan's behalf, but should let the Middle-Eastern country negotiate for itself, an Afghan fighter said last night at an Institute of Politics forum.

Mohammed Es'haq, an Afghan political advisor and a commander of the Ahmedshah army in Afghanistan, said the Afghans "do not give the right [to negotiate] to anyone, anywhere, to talk for us. No one can be more interested in peace than the people of Afghanistan."

Speaking as one of four experts on Afghanistan in a discussion entitled "Peace and Security in Afghanistan," Es'haq cited the recent Soviet-Pakistani talks in Geneva which failed to bring peace to his country.

"The Geneva talk is useless because it failed to stop the massacre, failed to stop the influx of refugees," Es'haq told the crowd of about 100 people. "The Soviets used the Geneva talks."

Another speaker, Wakil Akberzai, director general of the Mujahideen Refugee Relief Committee, addressed the refugee problem the Soviet intrusion caused.

"I have seen children walk barefooted with only tattered remains on their back," Akberzai said. "Their feet have been bleeding and their toenails are torn off. We do not have enough supplies to go around."

"Children die of heatstroke and dehydration in the summer or freeze in the winter," he said of the refugees who have left Afghanistan for Pakistan. He also cited high infant and maternal mortality rates, lack of schools, and psychological trauma as contributing to the poor state of refuges.

Azam Radfar, director for the Psychiatric Center for Afghans, and Mohammed Failani, deputy chief of the National Islamic Friends of Afghanistan, were both scheduled to speak, but neither appeared because they were sick.

Eden Naby, associate for the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard, served as the moderator for the event.