Afghan Leader Seeks Thaw in U.S. Relations

President Najibullah said Sunday that his Communist government wants better relations with the United States, even to the point of accepting military aid from a nation that is now supporting thousands of Afghan rebels.

Najibullah also confirmed that guerrillas fighting his Soviet-backed government had captured a garrison near the Pakistan border after a four-month siege. The guerrillas, who announced the victory Saturday, said the capture of Barikot, in the northeast Kunar province, opened a direct supply route for arms into Afghanistan.

In a speech Sunday to a visiting Soviet delegation and a group of private American citizens, Najibullah said the United States must stop providing military aid to Pakistan and the Afghan rebels if it wants the Soviet Union to stop arming Afghanistan.

Expounding on a “formula of symmetry,” Najibullah suggested that Soviet aid to his regime continue at the same level as U.S. aid to Pakistan and the rebels.

If “there must be a cutoff of aid for the Afghan government, there must be a cutoff of all American aid to the Pakistani government,” Najibullah told the two groups at the end of a weeklong conference.

Throughout his address, Najibullah stressed his government’s friendship with the Soviet Union.

But he said repeatedly that his government seeks friendlier ties with the United States--and private American investment.

Talking later with reporters, he said: “We would like good relations, politically, economically, culturally with the United States of America, even including military aid to our country to defend its sovereignty and its territorial integrity.”