Afghan Guerrilla Factions Agree on Cease-Fire Reply

Afghan guerrilla leaders agreed Monday on a joint response to the Communist government’s offer of a cease-fire and national reconciliation, but they declined to reveal their decision until later this week.

Leaders of the seven groups of Muslim guerrillas that make up the Alliance of Afghan Moujahedeen met for three hours in this city near the Afghan border to discuss the Soviet-backed Kabul government’s call for a six-month cease-fire beginning Thursday. The alliance said it has made a decision.

Maulavi Nabi Mohammadi, one of the seven leaders and the group’s acting spokesman, said the decision will be announced at a public meeting in Peshawar on Saturday.

“Our announcement will be very historic and very important,” he said through a translator. He refused to elaborate.

All of the guerrilla leaders declined comment on the decision as they left the building where they had conferred. Dozens of heavily armed guerrillas guarded the compound.

Last week Mohammadi, likewise speaking for the alliance, rejected the cease-fire proposal and said that the insurgents would accept nothing less than immediate and total withdrawal of about 115,000 Soviet troops in Afghanistan. There were no indications Monday that the guerrillas had revised their position, although one leader said the alliance was willing to talk with the Soviets.

Mohammadi said the seven leaders were “more united than ever before.”

Sibghatullah Mojaddedi, another of the seven leaders, said, “We will talk to the Russians anytime.”

The guerrillas previously have said they would talk with Moscow to arrange for the withdrawal of Soviet forces.

Soviet Backing Voiced

The Soviet Union, which is considered in control of the Afghan government, has said it strongly supports the cease-fire proposal. The Kremlin has said it wants to pull its forces out of Afghanistan as soon as possible but not until what it terms “imperialist” support for the guerrillas ceases.

Pakistan, home to more than 3 million Afghan refugees, supports the guerrillas but has been holding talks with the Afghan government on a possible political settlement. The guerrillas are also supported by the United States, China and Saudi Arabia, among other nations.

The guerrillas have been fighting for eight years to oust the Marxist government that seized power in a 1978 military coup. Soviet forces entered Afghanistan in December, 1979, to shuffle the faltering Marxist leadership and prop up the government against the guerrillas.

United Nations-sponsored talks on the Afghan conflict are to resume next month in Geneva.