Soviet arms supply to Afghanistan to continue

Press, 17 January 1989, Page 6

Soviet arms supply to Afghanistan to continue

NZPA-Reuter Moscow The Soviet Union has said its remaining troops will leave Afghanistan on schedule by the middle of next month but made it clear that arms and other supplies would continue.

Boris Gromov, commander of an estimated 50,000-strong Soviet contingent still in Afghanistan, appeared to dispel remaining doubts whether Moscow would stick to the February 15 pullout set in United Nations-mediated accords signed in Geneva in April. "It is a delicate question which worries everybody in the world and of course worries us,” General Gromov said in an interview with Soviet television. "But by February 15, the withdrawal of Soviet

troops from Afghanistan will be completed entirely.” Much the same message was voiced yesterday by the Soviet Foreign Minister, Eduard Shevardnadze, in an interview during a surprise visit to the Afghan capital, Kabul. Stopping short of General Gromov’s explicit guarantee, Mr Shevardnadze told the Afghan news agency, Bakhtar, he did not want the pullout delayed. He reiterated Moscow’s continued commitment to the Govern-

ment of President Najibullah. “We are striving for the withdrawal to facilitate the re-establishment of peace and not to be the signal for new fighting,” Mr Shevardnadze said after talks with Afghan leaders. “If a war is imposed on the Afghan Government ... it will be forced to counter this with force of arms and it has this force. “In case the war goes on, Soviet arms supplies will also be continued.” The first half of the

estimated 105,000 Soviet troops withdrew on schedule by mid-August 1988 but there has been speculation that the final withdrawal might be delayed because of pressure on Najibullah from Muslim rebels. A question mark hangs over what type of Government Afghanistan will have once the Soviet troops have left after more than nine years of propping up the country’s Kremlin-backed Administration. Moscow and Kabul have begun a unilateral

ceasefire and urged the rebels to join a broadbased coalition incorporating rebel groups and Najibullah’s People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan. The rebels have refused the offer and have continued military operations, including a drive to cut off supplies of food and other essentials to Kabul. A Soviet envoy, Yuli Vorontsov, said last week he believed some of the rebels wanted to talk to the Kremlin and Najibullah, in spite of the breakdown in negotiations.