Soviet Aide Accuses U.S., Pakistan of Imperiling Afghan Accord

A high-ranking Soviet official Thursday accused the United States and Pakistan of raising new issues that endanger an agreement for withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan.

Nikolai Kozyrev, ambassador-at-large who heads a Soviet team monitoring indirect talks here between Pakistan and Afghanistan, referred to U.S. insistence on a cutoff of Soviet military aid to Kabul and Pakistan’s insistence on formation of an interim Afghan government to accompany the Soviet departure.

Kozyrev said both subjects fall outside the U.N.-mediated negotiations in Geneva and violate earlier agreements that such new issues would not be linked to these talks for fear of jeopardizing the troop withdrawal.

Warns of Impasse

“I would like to stress that such a linkage can only aggravate the situation, block the signing of the Geneva documents and thus the solution of the entire Afghan problem,” he said.

Kozyrev’s comments, at a news conference, followed similar criticism Wednesday from Foreign Minister Abdul Wakil of Afghanistan. The declarations, apparently coordinated, seemed designed to apply public pressure on Washington and Islamabad to move forward on the U.N.-mediated troop withdrawal talks and put off until later their concerns about what will happen in Afghanistan after the Soviets leave.

There was no reply from U.S. or Pakistani diplomats here for the negotiations.

Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev said last month that Soviet troops could begin to withdraw from Afghanistan on May 15 if an accord is signed here by Tuesday. Hopes for such an early signing have nearly disappeared, but Kozyrev declined to explain the effect of the delay on Soviet willingness to pull out.

A diplomatic source said the atmosphere at the talks has turned sour since chief Pakistani delegate Zain Noorani returned from Pakistan on Sunday insisting that arrangements for an interim government must be concluded before Pakistan can sign the pullout agreement.

Pakistani officials have expressed concern that many of the 3 million Afghan refugees in Pakistan will refuse to return home if warfare continues after the Soviets leave and have said that a broad-based transitional government is needed to avert continued conflict.

Noorani and Wakil have continued daily indirect contacts through the United Nations’ mediator, Diego Cordovez, the diplomatic informant said. But basically they have spent this week marking time pending developments elsewhere on the disputes over an interim government and Soviet aid to Kabul, he added.

Kozyrev contended that only Afghans can resolve the question of an interim or coalition government to replace the current Soviet-sponsored leadership headed by President Najibullah. But he confirmed that the United States and the Soviet Union have been in contact outside Geneva over this question and the dispute over cutting off aid.

Right to Continue Aid

Kozyrev, reiterating what Wakil said Wednesday, declared that the Soviet Union retains the right to give military and other aid to the Communist-dominated Kabul government even after the estimated 115,000 Soviet troops withdraw.

“This is a question of bilateral relations between two governments and it should not bother anybody,” he added.

At the same time, Kozyrev insisted that the withdrawal accords require the United States to cease assistance to the Pakistan-based Afghan guerrilla groups fighting to overthrow the Soviet-supported government in Kabul. U.S. aid to the guerrillas amounted to more than $600 million last year.

Under terms of the agreement being negotiated here, the United States and the Soviet Union would become guarantors of a peace accord that rules out outside interference in Afghan affairs. Kozyrev said Soviet aid to Kabul would continue under this arrangement because it goes to a recognized government, while the U.S. aid goes to irregular forces without a government.