Romanian President calls for pullout in Afghanistan

November 6, 1980

Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu has publicly called for Soviet troops to be withdrawn from Afghanistan. Romania alone among the Kremlin's Warsaw Pact allies has refused to support Soviet military intervention in Afghanistan, and had implicitly criticized the move previously. The demand that the troops be pulled out came in an interview with a Swedish newspaper. Romania's official news agency, Agerpres, published a long report of the interview, quoting Mr. Ceausescu as saying Afghanistan's problems must be solved by the Afghan people themselves, without outside interference.