§ 2.55 p.m.
§ Lord GRIDLEYMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
The Question was as follows:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have issued any statement or made any public protest about the recent bloodshed and loss of life in Afghanistan.
§ Lord GORONWY-ROBERTSMy Lords, we have not in this case made any specific statement about recent events in Afghanistan. But it is well known that Her Majesty's Government deplore recourse to violence, wherever it occurs.
§ Lord GRIDLEYMy Lords, while thanking the noble Lord for that Answer, may I ask whether the Government consider that it might be appropriate to raise at the United Nations the issue of this Communist dominated, Russian backed coup within Afghanistan, and secure the condemnation of the United Nations in this matter? Has it not been a very bloody coup, in all the circumstances, in which the President of Afghanistan was shot down and some of his Cabinet and many other people were killed in the streets?
§ Lord GORONWY-ROBERTSMy Lords, we naturally deplore such action. However, I think that it would be premature, to say the least, to take the action which the noble Lord—for the best reasons—has suggested we should take. The new Afghanistan Government has been recognised by all its neighbours, including countries such as Iran and Pakistan, and among the few policy announcements which the new Government has so far made is adherence to a policy of neutrality and non-alignment and also of friendship with all countries which show friendship to it. Special stress, indeed, has been placed on co-operation with all countries which are friendly to it. We have recognised it, as I think practically all our friends and allies have done, on the well-known criteria which successive British Governments have applied in these cases. I myself welcome, 311 in particular, the recent statement by Mr. Tarakki, a Communist who was released by the new Government, who said that, despite the continuing strong ties between his country and the Soviet Union, ties which extend far back in history, his country of Afghanistan will be "nobody's satellite".
Baroness WARD of NORTH TYNESIDEMy Lords, in view of the fact that many years ago I had the pleasure of visiting Afghanistan, in the days when it was a much happier country, may I associate myself with and support my noble friend who asked the original Question?
§ Lord GORONWY-ROBERTSIndeed, my Lords, the noble Baroness may associate herself with the noble Lord, and I congratulate him. However, we may all have hopes for the future. I take careful note of the points made by both the noble Lord and the noble Baroness. We regard with abhorrence this way of settling internal affairs. However, we cannot easily intervene in the affairs of an independent sovereign country. We can make known—and we do make known, from both sides of the House and through the Government—in every possible way that we do not agree, least of all approve. In that way, I am quite sure that we can exercise due influence. I repeat that the position in Afghanistan in regard to its external relations is by no means as ominous as some might have thought it to be two or three weeks ago.