Short summits seldom help to resolve basic policy differences which are often rooted in divergent perceptions of national interests. The regional Commonwealth conference in New Delhi is not likely to be an exception to this general experience. Some of the visiting leaders were critical of India’s stand on Afghanistan and its recognition of the Hanoi-backed Heng Samrin regime in Kampuchea before they arrived in New Delhi and they have gone back unpersuaded about the correctness of its position. This is not surprising. They would have been appreciative of this country’s approach only if they were in search of solutions to the Afghanistan and Kampuchean issues and were interested in finding out what it could do to promote efforts in that direction. They were not so interested for reasons which remain obscure. We would be unjustified in saying that their calculations are obscure if they are interested primarily in anti-Soviet and anti-Vietnamese propaganda. But it is difficult to believe that seasoned and responsible political leaders would be content with doubtful propaganda gains.
Let us take Kampuchea first since it is a matter of special interest to a majority of countries that were represented in New Delhi. They cannot be unaware that the Khmer race faced nothing short of extinction under the barbarous Pol Pot set-up, that only Vietnam’s attack, however unacceptable on some other accounts, averted this catastrophe, that Kampuchea has begun to recover under the present set-up largely with the generous help of the Vietnamese and that the Vietnamese advisers have begun to leave as Kampuchean personnel have begun to take their place. Even this would not have clinched the issue in favour of accepting a temporary Vietnamese military presence in Kampuchea if an alternative nationalist and humane set-up was available to replace the Heng Samrin regime. But no such possibility is open to the Kampuchean people. On the contrary, the murderous Pol Pot and his band are waging a guerilla war with the help of China, America and Thailand so that they can make a comeback to power and complete their unfinished task of producing a “new man”. Surely, those who are helping these deranged men and those who support this policy are not promoting any worthwhile goal.
The Soviet case for intervention in Afghanistan is not so clear-cut. But it cannot be ended without a dialogue with the Kremlin. That does not mean that the rival superpower and its allies should not take measures they consider appropriate for securing their interests. But it does involve recognition of certain realities – that the Soviet Union has legitimate security interests in Afghanistan which preclude the establishment of a mullah dominated regime in Kabul, that the guerillas cannot force it to withdraw, that rebel activity beyond a certain level can widen the area of conflict and that escalation of tension can unleash forces of chaos in the critically important area of the Gulf. Thus, on both Kampuchea and Afghanistan, India is on the side of sanity, humanity and perhaps history.