The fact the soviet union was not mentioned by name in the communication of the nonaligned movement could not hide our deep disappointment and indignation. A superpower that often claims itself to be a supporter of the third world in the nonalignment movement. Once again, the vote calling for withdrawal was overwhelming. This time, 116 in favor and 23 against. The actual third world was rather strong, unexpectedly strong, more than anybody could have expected and for the First Time Since the 50s, the majority of countries in the United Nations condemned the soviet aggression. Nick downie has been a close observer of soviet military aggression and afghanistan. Mr. Downie in the first year after the invasion during 1980, it was a psychological shock with the sudden influx of russian troops. They almost seems to be stunned by it. They russians did take back fairly large areas that they had lost in the previous 18 months fighting before the russian invasion. Then the russians, from what i could gather, having reestablished their bases with drew to the main towns and the afghan army would hold the areas they had taken. And in this last year, in 1981, the guerrillas retook the land which they had lost the year before. Now, the situation is very much the same as it was in 1979 before the invasion and in some ways, it is much worse. Michael berry, a representative of the International Federation for human rights, a paris base lawyers organization, has spent almost 10 years in afghanistan. Mr. Berry apparently, the soviets felt bringing in their tanks would be enough to terrorize the population into submission. Seeing this is not the case, they launched a total attack. Parachute troops landed on houses, went into houses and simply shot everybody in them, forcing the population to run away or die on the spot. A Christian Science monitor correspondent has made several trips inside afghan is an and has written extensively about the refugee camps. Mr. Girardet i visited numerous camps along the pakistan afghan border. There arent estimated 2. 5 refugees inside pakistan and they are still coming over. The groups go back inside inside 3, 4, 5, 10 weeks. They are justified to bring their families because theres a lot of bombing going on in the villages. In some parts, they just cannot survive. Food storages have an destroyed and this is one tactic of the soviets, to destroy food and burn crops just before harvest time. What are these people going to live on . This serves the purposes of the soviet union to try to remove people from certain areas so as to reduce the resistance or ability of locals to support the resistance. Elsewhere, the soviets are ceding the countries with minds hurt children who have trouble identifying these objects that blend in very well with the terrain. These mines are also destroying flocks, the goats, sheep, and the cattle. They walk on these mines and blow up. So through the combination of starvation tactics, they keep the pressure on a particular village so hot that they force the population to fully to flee. Recognized authority and author on resistance movements around the world, prof. Chaliand the tactic is to remain in the city, hold them tightly and create law and order and control communications. They do that essentially with tanks. If there are attacks, they send in helicopters. On the other hand, they are not controlling the country. It is a big country populated by 15 Million People and there are 90,000 soviet troops, which is not enough to control a country of 50 Million People. I think their choice is militarily to keep a low profile. Wherever the mujahedin are too strong, in provinces in the valley or in the city of kandahar. Apart from ministry apart from military operations, theres no attempt to use that phrase to win the hearts and minds, which is an essential part of any campaign. They are just sitting there and it looks like a holding operation, as if the orders have come from moscow that this war is to be fought as cheaply as possible. Mr. Berry the soviets are using a hot and cold strategy which consists of hitting one populated valley hard and destroying the population, forcing it to flee or killing it in order to convince other populations that resistance is hopeless. Because the soviets have not been able to convince anyone of the hopelessness, they have then forced to rely increasingly on such terror tactics. And entire country has risen, almost to the man, against the invader. That is unique. Normally, its a tiny percentage of the population doing the fighting, supported by a minority of the civil population. In afghanistan, you have between 17 and 20 Million People who have risen as one group. The fact that they are not organized is what holds them back. Were they organized, they could hold them down. In the valley, there is some Organization Going on. There are small units that are utter organized and more efficient as far as insurgency is concerned. Better discipline, which is not that easy with afghans who are traditional warriors. This is changing. A leader of one of these mujahedin groups who himself has seen action in the field and understands the need for Better Organization and Cooperation Among the various groups. I dont think the unification of the afghan section is impossible. We are fighting the same enemy, we are fighting the russians. Unity from all the groups and we are fighting the same enemy. Young lucia had been are fighting in different parts of the country. Nobody is waiting for the others to be the first to fight. All the muslims everywhere are fighting against their enemy. That would be a mistake, to say one is fighting and the other is not. Most afghans, to be a communist is to be against islam. Soviet aggression in afghanistan is viewed as a communist effort to eliminate those who are believers. What is obvious to any observer is that an afghan state is intricately down the in its identity. An independent filmmaker was impressed by the role of islam in the afghan struggle for freedom. Mr. De ponfilly we have often heard about their religious fanaticism. In fact, their faith is necessarily. But it isnt just the fuel for the resistance. They are fighting for the respect of their lifestyle, so the struggle for their religion is a nationalist struggle. Kahn for a long time, we did not understand the russians had invaded our country and wanted us to be communist. Thank god we are muslims. We do not want communism in afghanistan. The role of islam first is identity. You are a muslim just like you are an afghan. A parallel easy to understand for the westerners is that its like the role of the Catholic Church in poland. You are polish and you are catholic. It means you are not russian or orthodox and it is the same thing with the afghans. The religion is part of their identity, part of their way of living. When we ask the man in charge of the military by what miracle is 5000 men with only 500 weapons managing to hold in check the army that supposed to be the most powerful in the world, the red army, the first answer he gave was that the mujahedin are believers and if they die, they inherit the garden of god. But this second part of his answer was that the nature of the countryside was responsible. A large part of afghanistan consists of mountains and these mountains are very difficult to occupy. Since the soviet invasion, many of europes leading Television Correspondents have made several trips to afghanistan to document the struggle for freedom. Mr. Damato what struck me very much with my first trip was that above all, the extreme poverty of means. On one hand, and have great determination and on the other hand, they have extreme poverty of means. They are equipped with guns from 19th century and there were very few kalashnikov machine guns. Maybe one gun for every 50 guerrillas. Two years later, after six trips, i have found in the afghans the same determination i have found during my first and counter, but there is also a greater sense of responsibility, political responsibility. Of course, the situation has been improving the last two years. The Freedom Fighters are very equipped but the fight is uneven. One of the major difficulties is to be able to defend themselves against the attack of these gunships. They russian attack helicopters which are armored, equipped with very sophisticated equipment and Electronic Devices to locate men as well as bombing and laserguided weapons. The helicopter attack then ship divides the soviets with an awesome weapon against the mujahedin. Sweeping across the countryside at speeds of up to 300 kilometers an hour, its armaments and machine guns rain death and destruction from the skies. Another Television Correspondent who is filmed several military operations in this war is a french reporter. The weapons used by the afghans do not come from the states or china for the most part. Most of the weapons held by the mujahedin, the afghan Freedom Fighters, our weapons garnered in the course of operations. There are an incredible number of desertions and the incredible in the afghan army. A great many units along with weapons and equipments have defected to join the resistance. It is mostly these weapons the afghans are using. There are a lot of afghan deserters. This comes by the fact that this is not a popular war at all. Most people in the afghan armys have families who are against the regime and theres no motivation to fight. The mujahedin are all over the country. They are numerous and they have the backing of the population. It is not motivating for a for an army to be fighting against its own people. Mujahedin tactics have improved to the point where even the cities are no longer totally secure for soviet troops. Kandahar, a major afghan city, has changed hands several times. The afghan guerrillas are able to infiltrate the soviet camps in the city and are capable of launching attacks and then fleeing. However, attacking the city is like stabbing a dragons tail. A day lucia of metal and fire bursts up around you. Now, you find small, well armed commando units which have gotten used to soviet methods of warfare and no how to counter them. Let me give you an example. When helicopters were flying overhead, the afghans were paralyzed with fear and afraid of these helicopters they were on it to fight. Today, they now had to gauge the threat of a helicopter and evaluate its potential danger. They know at a certain altitude that it is not dangerous but at a lower altitude, it becomes dangerous and they know exactly how to position themselves. One of the young lucia hardy one of the mujahedin has experienced combat firsthand. All the organizations fighting for the freedom of afghanistan have organized activities within couple. The objective is to assassinate russian officers and members of the communist party. That is to say, to eliminate all those who work against the people of afghanistan. A number of people who work for the government also have the mujahedin during the daytime. At night, most of these same people organize guerrilla activities. Their activities are well organized. When the military units, officers and servicemen are faithful to their country and their people, they help the mujahedin by sending secret information. For example, when the government deploys the unit somewhere, the officers who are loyal passover whatever information they can, such as the number of persons and place of deployment. The mujahedin can get an advance knowledge about what to expect and then repair themselves to defend or attack accordingly. For the soviet troops, explanations of their missions are minimal and often confusing to young recruits. One of the important points of the soviet invasion is propaganda. Right now, as you know, all the soldiers in fact dont know why they are sent over there. Few soviet soldiers are taken prisoner by the mujahedin. These two were captured. A chemical scout analyst was captured one month after he arrived in afghanistan. Recently, a freelance journalist was able to interview him and his countrymen, a soviet turkoman from a collective farm. They think they are helping afghanistan from possible chinese invaders. The officer said we were sent by the government to afghanistan to protect us from chinese and american soldiers. As much as i have been around afghanistan and been around here, i have not met a single chinese or american soldier. This war is senseless. What do soviet soldiers in afghanistan think of this war . Each thinks differently. One things that they senseless war, another supports. A russian soldier has become a barbarian here. They go into homes and kill women and children and rape them. There was a case when soldiers went into a house, killed a father, old man and raped a 13yearold girl and then killed her so she would not tell anyone. You are aware the government of kabul is a toy of the soviet union. Whatever they do, such as destroying, burning, looting houses, they have the blame on the mujahedin. In kabul, the afghan secret security and police usually keep 15 or 20 afghans and the conditions in small groups and torture them with electric shock and beatings. It is difficult for me to describe what they do and it would be hard for others to listen to such acts of savagery. I know an afghan come patriot who worked very hard for freedom of his country. They give him so many electric shocks that he was penalized. He was paralyzed. Ordinary people are very much strongly opposed to this war. Now i can understand why. The majority of people realize there is no National Interest in afghanistan for us. It cost us dearly in terms of resources. Theres no sense in this war whatsoever. That is the general feeling in this country. In last year, there are areas against this war. The last year, the soviets stopped the practice of sending dead boys in coffins back to their homelands. The demonstration of the population against this war and the practice was stopped. Since the soviet invasion, the fee afghan doctors serving the rural population have led. Healthcare services for those who stayed behind is maintained by the volunteer medical teams, mostly french. In the two years since these teams have been serving in afghanistan, they have observed tactics against the silk against the civilian population. A doctor from Doctors Without Borders spoke about what the medical teams have witnessed. Now we are witnessing a third phase in the war crimes and that is the bombing of hospitals. Our hospitals have been purposely destroyed in the last few weeks. Here, you can see a hospital with the buildings before the soviet helicopters arrived. The bombings lasted a few minutes and at the end of those few minutes, here is what is left of the hospital. This photograph explains something else. This hospital is located away from the neighboring village and, as you can see, there are fields and trees around the hospital. The hospital was destroyed on purpose and the trees were not even touched. The helicopters only went after the hospital. One of the doctors with International Medical aid spoke of her experiences inside afghanistan. We witnessed a second bombing which was quite awful. It happened in the beginning of november. It was specifically aimed at our hospital on the day we planned to leave. We heard the helicopters making a first pass over the village, so everyone rushed toward the shelters but we did not have enough time to get there. The helicopters were back over us very quickly. It was only a few dozen meters away. At that point, we were really scared. The hospital was completely destroyed, the walls torn down, and nothing left inside. First, the bombings. Another thing that has been talked about a lot the antipersonal mines dispersed around the country and are very sophisticated. They are green and gray and difficult to spot. In this war, a dead person doesnt cost much. And injured person can no longer fight in the war. He has to be looked after and taken back. The third kind of wound we have to treat is worse. Many boobytrapped items are left behind. Here, it is usually the children who get hurt because the adults and learn to be distrustful. After the soviets retreated about a year ago, they boobytrapped the bodies of dead people left in the field and when their relatives when to bury them, their bodies exploded. We saw that only once, but see it. The medical teams enter the same harsh climate as the majority. The doctors must respond as best they can to whatever emergency. We have been working since 5 00 in the morning and were about to stop or break when we suddenly heard an explosion. We all ran and hid behind the rock, thinking it was a helicopter raid. Then there was just silence. We came out from behind the rock to see what happened and we saw mujahedin crawling toward us on all fours. His foot had been blown up. We later heard from the leader of the caravan that they had dropped antipersonal mines parachute. If we are not educated, gangrene might spread, so we cut off his foot right there with the limited means available. It was a very moving experience for all of us. Resistance to the soviet invasion has marshaled the energies of a whole population. It is this powerful collective will which has galvanized a people into taking on the mighty soviet army despite terrifying odds. And those who have witnessed this struggle are marked forever by what they have seen. As far as i could ascertain, the afghans are definitely mr. Damato as far as i could ascertain, the afghans are definitely convinced that as long as there is just one russian invader on the afghan soil and as long as there is just one free afghan, there will be no feed him in afghanistan. The Afghan People, like others, love their freedom. They live free and they die free. Until now, they have reserved the freedom of afghanistan with the right of their own blood just as their fathers did and their sons will do. Im sure the Afghan People will regain their freedom and be a free nation once again. Mr. Ponfilly it is an afghan tradition to fight against any kind of an aiders. Right now, they are the soviets. The reaction against them shows the soviets are not ringing them progress. The soviet argument is we are coming to freebies be from feudalism. But what does this mean . Can one come to free a people with sophisticated helicopters, with tanks, bible mean villages, killing young people and old people, killing the innocent . What are the soviets bringing to afghanistan . The russians invade afghanistan, i believe all of us now in the future cannot close our eyes to the people who are losing their country. It is so unfair. I feel personally concerned about afghanistan now that i have lived there and i think we all share the responsibility when we come back from their, particularly because the steeple count on a synonymously and feel so isolated. I believe we should feel responsible for them. The trauma of this war has left its mark on the children who have suffered most. The drawings of a 13yearold afghan refugee reflect her own emotional experiences. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] from 1979 until the wars and in february, 1989, it is estimated nearly one million afghan civilians died while several million refugees fled the country, many to neighboring pakistan. According to the National Security archive, the u. S. Congress provided nearly 3 billion in covert money and arms to the afghan mujahedin fighters in the 1980s. In this 1983 photograph, president reagan meets with a group of afghan commanders in the white house. In february of 1988, mattel gorbachev announced the soviet government would withdraw their 100,000 troops from afghanistan. The final troop withdrawal was a year later. A beautification, to my mind, is far more than a matter of cosmetics. To me, it describes the whole effort of bringing the Natural World and the manmade world into harmony. To bring order, usefulness, and delight, to our whole environment, and that, of course, only begins with landscaping. Abouty bird was beautifying the nation. She was a national campaigner, savvy businesswoman, and political partner to her husband, lbj. Lady bird johnson, this sunday ht on cspans original first ladies workout sunday at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on american ladies. V first p. M. Y night at 8 00 eastern on American History tv. Next on American History tv, an author and historian explains why native americans were so vulnerable to europeanintroduced diseases. Indigenous populations had little to no exposure to diseases like smallpox or to colonization. However, kelton says illness was only one piece of a larger puzzle in the native populations downfall. The Kansas City Public Library at the university of Kansas School of medicine hosted this event. Its about one hour and 18 minutes