Senior Official of Afghan Truce Committee Reportedly Assassinated

A senior official of the Afghan government’s cease-fire and reconciliation committee was assassinated in northern Afghanistan, Radio Kabul reported Friday.

The broadcast did not say how Abdul Ahad Arzbigi was killed or give any details on the attack, except to say it had been carried out by “terrorists.” The Afghan government often refers to Muslim guerrillas as terrorists and bandits.

The guerrillas have rejected a unilateral cease-fire declaration by the government and vowed to continue fighting until Marxist rule in Afghanistan is overthrown.

According to a broadcast monitored here, Arzbigi was killed Thursday night in northern Afghanistan’s Kundoz province.

Radio Kabul said he was the province’s chief commissioner for national reconciliation and executive councilor of the provincial government.

‘Cowardly Act’

“This is a terrorist act and a cowardly act and we denounce the incident and appeal to the people of Kundoz province to continue their struggle to achieve the aims of national reconciliation,” Radio Kabul said.

The Moscow-backed Afghan government rarely admits to setbacks, so the prominent attention given the killing indicated the death was a major incident that could not be concealed. The government hailed Arzbigi as the first martyr in its efforts to achieve peace and said his funeral on Friday was attended by several thousand people.

Meanwhile, an official at the United Nations in New York announced that the next round of U.N.-sponsored talks on Afghanistan has been postponed two weeks, until Feb. 25.

U.N. negotiator Diego Cordovez told a news conference the delay was not caused by any problems, but was undertaken to enhance prospects for the success of the talks, which involve Afghan and Pakistani representatives, when they resume in Geneva.

Private Consultations

Cordovez said the postponement was decided on, with the concurrence of all parties, in view of intensive private consultations now taking place.

These include talks between Pakistani and Soviet officials, as well as other consultations among parties that Cordovez declined to specify.

“There are many others. Some you know about, others you do not know about,” he told reporters.

The U.N.-sponsored negotiations, which have been going on since 1982, are aimed at securing the withdrawal of an estimated 115,000 Soviet troops now in Afghanistan and the repatriation of millions of Afghan refugees.