The World - News from April 22, 1988

The Soviet Union is not planning to provide more arms to the Afghan government after Soviet troops withdraw from the country, a senior adviser to Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev told a group of Western correspondents in Kabul. He urged the United States to follow suit with regard to the Afghan guerrillas. “We don’t need to supply,” Yevgeny M. Primakov said. “We aren’t going to supply if the Americans aren’t going to supply. But we’re not going to restrict our relations with the Afghan government.” Primakov appeared to be answering Secretary of State George P. Shultz’s call for restraint by both superpowers in delivering arms to their allies in the Afghan conflict after the Soviets withdraw beginning May 15.