European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - June 16, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                More horror for War torn Afghanistan up photo Young girl carries bread to her family in refugee by Barry Renfrew associated press after seven years of Afghanistan May soon be facing a new horror in the form of a looming manmade famine that International Aid agencies and others fear could kill hundreds of thousands of Relief Agency afghan guerrilla human rights groups and food experts Are joining a grow ing chorus of warnings that Afghanistan is turning into a wasteland where Many people Are going they say its just a few Steps from catastrophic tens of thousands of farms have been destroyed or crops Are being the flight of Mil Lions of refugees and the War have left few men to carry on and Many people have nothing left to Exchange for what Little food is the groups people Are hungry in the situation is going to get very said Maslavi Nabi Leader of the Parakat resistance i fear Many of my people will die if the world does not newly arrived afghan refugees in Pesha say people in parts of Afghanistan Are eating anything they can the people eat Clover and Alfalfa it is All that is one Western correspondents Are from Afghanistan and it is impossible to independently verify what is Hap pening in the it is Clear that much of Afghanistan has been devastated by the War Between islamic guerrillas and the communist government that seized Power in a coup seven years soviet forces have been in Afghanistan for the past five years propping up the regime and there Are an estimated soviet troops in the the mountainous Central asian nation has always been one of the worlds poorest countries where people have eked out a Bare living from the arid famine has often hit the country before and tens of thousands of people reportedly died in a major food shortage Between 1971 and the War has disrupted most aspects of afghan especially farming and the distribution of food within the Many areas Are deserted or sparsely populated after years of fighting and up to a Quarter of the prewar population of 20 million people has fled the Salamay a refugee afghan on the basis of surveys of afghan refugees and people still inside the that some people Are facing vital help is urgently needed to feed the he told an amnesty International meet ing in guerrilla leaders and Western intelligence officials say soviet and afghan government forces Are destroying a youngster holds a tin can while waiting for milk in a Relief up photo Page 14 farming in areas that support the insurgents to starve villagers into submission and deny the guerrillas or Mujahideen the food they need to operate and part of the soviet strategy is to destroy instead of killing they bomb their irrigation Ca nals and crops and then they have nothing to said an official of the afghan information which monitors events inside the crops and food stores Are prime targets in government counterinsurgency Mohammadi Fields and Orchards Are farm animals killed and irrigation systems that take years to construct by hand he three and a half million afghan refugees have fled to Pakistan to escape the fighting and another million have fled to according to United nations another two million people Are to have fled the afghan Countryside to major cities such As the capital of the world body the exodus of the flight of others to join the guerrillas and conscription by the government for its armed forces have left few men to farm in Many Aid officials what food is produced can rarely be transported because communications have collapsed and travel is they like the problem is not simply a food Short said Fange of the swedish one the star8 and stripes of several Aid groups based in Peshawar to Aid Many particularly in the remoter Sim ply have nothing left to barter a major study conducted for the Relief Agency afghan Aid by Fances a nutrition expert at the University of found that tens of thousands of farms have been the based on surveys among afghan refugees and inside Esti mated agricultural output is Down by up to 80 percent across much of the apart from the ominous future these events indicate there is no doubt that there Are communities throughout Afghanistan which Are dying from starve the study the afghan government has admitted that the War has caused major economic Mohammad Sarwar Deputy chairman of the Council of said in a recent interview with a soviet journalist that the Economy had lost million and production was seriously the ruthless undeclared War against us by the inter National imperialists and regional reactionary forces interferes with our economic he Burhanuddin Leader of one of the main guerrilla said there is growing con Cern about food shortages were close to famine in Many afghan capital suffering in soviet hands National geographic during the the deserted streets of the capital of frequently vibrate to the sounds of the skies aglow with Light from and by the City seems to follow its ageless its bazaars filled with Rich sights and its Labyrinthine streets still travelled by human beasts of Burden carrying crates on their but much has changed in Kabul since marxists seized Power in Afghanistan in a year soviet troops bolstered the and now number More than bitter fighting continues Between troops and resistance or Mike National geographic staff is one of the few Western journalists who have been granted visas to see communist in the april he reports that his first visit had been in 1966 when he arrived there As Deputy director of the peace corps program in i grew to love this antique its panoramic Moun Tain scape and sparkling the creation of dust sifted in the Bright Sun of he Edwards Young men get drunk in the terraced Garden where the first Mogul pm who lived in Kabul from 1504 to is in pre marxist Public drunkenness was rare in the conservative Muslim coca cola red the world Are now painted islamic Green in after the says a coca cola Plant people arose against any thing schooling for the Young has been reduced from 12 years to and conscription beings at age but older afghan deprived of formal education when they were attend literacy i thank the revolutionary government for teachers and one of them says an archaeologist boasts of afghan self suf fic ency in exploring the country intriguing work once done chiefly by but the work is because most of Afghanistan is not controlled by the Kabul the soviets Supply the country with and and the Cost of Staples is High for the average Chicken a former poultry Market that later became the Hub of a bustling tourist once gleamed with Samovar and merchants hawked Fine carpets and Chicken streets gleam has become a and Many shops Are says As he russians have Little Money for one of the most obvious changes Edwards noticed during his latest 10day stay in Kabul was the cites possibly tripled to 2 million by villagers fleeing the heavy fighting that has destroyed their and perhaps another 4 million afghan refugees have fled to Pakistan and russian troops Are a common sight in Al though afghan troops perform most guard duty Down soviet soldiers afoot were a Tipoff to the pres ence of soviet who dare not venture out without an armed Edwards while he was in the guerrillas left a suitcase full of explosives in a crowded Airport killing Between 13 and 30 people and injuring 200 to ant american posters Are conspicuous in government officials i met were shrill in their denunciation of the United Edwards but on the Street afghans were As cordial As i remembered a photo these scenes of plenty have disappeared As the conflict in Afghanistan has june the stars and stripes Page 15