Moscow Assures U.S. on Pullout

The United States said today it has received new assurances from Moscow that the Soviet Union will fulfill its commitment to withdraw by Aug. 15 half of the 115,000 troops it had in Afghanistan.

Even so, U.S. officials were concerned. They said that some Soviet military leaders found withdrawing under rebel fire difficult and that the Soviet military commander in Kabul had indicated last week that thousands of new troops would be sent to the embattled country. The commander’s remarks were conveyed by the U.N. team that is monitoring the Red Army’s withdrawal for President Zia ul-Haq of Pakistan. Zia then touched off alarm bells on Saturday with a statement that the Soviets “decided not only to stop their withdrawal, but they have brought in something like 10,000 troops back from the Soviet Union into Kabul because Kabul was under threat.”