Sen. Humphrey Visits Kabul, Refuses Talks

Sen. Gordon J. Humphrey (R-N.H.) said here Tuesday that he had just completed a one-day visit to war-torn Afghanistan but that as a matter of principle he had refused to meet with any Afghan officials.

Humphrey, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and chairman of a congressional task force on Afghanistan, told reporters that he had flown to Kabul, the Afghan capital, on Monday as part of a fact-finding tour that also included short visits to the Soviet Union, India and Pakistan.

He also said he had met with Soviet officials Sunday in Moscow and had found them “overconfident and cocky” about prospects in Afghanistan, where about 115,000 Soviet troops are supporting the pro-Moscow government in a civil war against Muslim guerrillas.

Humphrey said the Soviets told him that 37,000 rebels of the Afghan moujahedeen, including three commanders, had joined the Afghan regime under a program of reconciliation.

He described himself as the first U.S. congressman to visit Afghanistan since Moscow sent in troops to support the government in 1979.

The United States maintains low-level diplomatic relations with the Afghan regime, but Humphrey said that he personally does not recognize it.

“I did not meet at all, did not want to meet and indeed actively sought to avoid any contact with the officials, as I regard the regime as illegitimate and criminal,” he said.

Humphrey said he took an automobile tour of Kabul and met with foreign diplomats at a reception given for him.

“Kabul,” he said, “is a very busy place in a military logistical sense.”

In New Delhi on Tuesday, Humphrey met with Indian Foreign Secretary K. P. S. Menon and Dr. V. S. Arunachalam, the science adviser to Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. He said he encouraged the Indian officials to take a more negative view of the Soviet role in Afghanistan, which he described as a threat to all South Asia.

Tuesday afternoon he traveled on to Islamabad to meet with Pakistani officials.