Islam needn't fear, Kremlin tells Muslims

The Soviet Union is trying hard to soften the impact on the Muslim world of its intervention in Afghanistan by stressing that Islam has nothing to fear from the Kremlin. The theme has emerged strongly in the Soviet press over the past week, apparently to counter warnings by the United States and other countries of the danger posed to Islamic countries by "atheistic communism."

Soviet reports from Kabul, where the pro-Moscow Babrak Karmal was installed in power at the end of December in a coup backed by Soviet troops, have stressed that the new government is reversing its predecessor's repression of Muslims.