Soviet-Afghan war can be summarized in his 1980 speech at University of Alberta:The Soviet Union's involvement Afghanistan was not an act of aggression or intervention ... Rather, the Soviet Union was honoring a 1978 treaty with Afghanistan, which stipulated that Afghanistan could ask the U.S.S.R. for military aid ... He cited resistance to the revolution by the land-owning and capitalist classes as an internal factor. And continuing interference in the affairs of Afghanistan by Cpina [recte China], Pakistan, as well as the CIA, is an external reason mentioned by Kashtan. Electoral record References 1909 births 1993 deaths Politicians from Montreal Leaders of the Communist Party of Canada Labor-Progressive Party candidates in the 1945 Canadian federal election Labor-Progressive Party candidates in the 1953 Canadian federal election Communist Party of Canada candidates in the 1965 Canadian federal election Communist Party of Canada candidates in the 1968 Canadian federal election Communist Party of Canada candidates in the 1974 Canadian federal election Communist Party of Canada candidates in the 1979 Canadian federal election Communist Party of Canada candidates in the 1980 Canadian federal election Communist Party of Canada candidates in the 1984 Canadian federal election Jewish socialists Jewish Canadian politicians