Soviets Link Afghan Pullout and Truce

Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze has linked the early withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan to a proposed cease-fire in the seven-year-old war there, the Soviet news agency Tass said Tuesday.

Tass said that Shevardnadze spelled out his government’s position Monday night at a reception in Kabul, the Afghan capital. He arrived there earlier in the day to bestow the Kremlin’s approval on a six-month cease-fire proposed last week by Afghan leader Najib.

Najib’s proposal calls for a cease-fire to take effect Jan. 15 and for the government and the rebels to negotiate a “national reconciliation.”

‘Indispensable Prerequisite’

According to Tass, Shevardnadze said that “a cease-fire is an indispensable prerequisite condition for the rumble of guns to give way to the voice of reason and for the warring sides to get together at a common threshold of accord and be able to discuss a peaceful future of their country without interference.”

Leaders of the Muslim guerrillas have rejected Najib’s proposal as a fraud that would perpetuate his Moscow-backed regime.

Najib’s proposal made no specific reference to the Soviet troops, estimated to number about 115,000, who according to Western analysts are doing most of the fighting against the rebels. But Shevardnadze was quoted as saying at the reception that no one wants a cease-fire more than the Soviet Union.

‘All Our Lads’

“Success,” Tass quoted him as saying, “will mean peace in a country that is our neighbor, and hence peace for us, too. It will also mean an early return to their homeland by the Soviet troops, by all our lads who are being awaited back home so eagerly, anxiously and hopefully by their mothers, fathers, wives, brides and work mates.”

In the past, the Soviet Union has rejected the idea of the Kabul regime negotiating with the rebel leaders on grounds that the guerrillas are puppets of the United States.

But Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev has described Afghanistan as a “bleeding wound” and said that withdrawal of Soviet troops in accordance with a political settlement is one of his highest priorities.

Shevardnadze was quoted as saying that such a settlement is closer than ever before and as urging Pakistan, where most of the rebels are based, to go along with Najib’s proposal.

‘Policy of Neutrality’

“The new year,” he was reported to have said, “can and should mark the start of new relations between Afghanistan and all its neighbors, and of its growing stronger as a sovereign, independent country pursuing a policy of neutrality and nonalignment. It is imperative that yesterday’s foes choose to be good neighbors.”

Western diplomats have said that Shevardnadze’s visit to Kabul is the capstone to a two-month Soviet-Afghan peace offensive.

In their view, any accord with the rebels would not relax Najib’s control over Afghanistan’s army and secret police and might be a way of gaining control over the opposition forces without more bloodshed.