Soviets Suspend Afghan Pullout : Kremlin Blames Increased Rebel Action, Cites U.S. Arms Shipments

The Soviet Union announced Friday that it is suspending the withdrawal of its forces from Afghanistan because of the worsening military situation there.

Alexander A. Bessmertnykh, a first deputy foreign minister, said in a statement that Moscow still intends to complete the withdrawal by Feb. 15, but he left open the possibility that Soviet troops might remain longer.

“The withdrawal of troops is being suspended for the time being,” Bessmertnykh said. “What is important is not when it will be continued, but when it will be completed. . . .

Conditions for Withdrawal

“The paramount task now is for the military situation in Afghanistan to be normalized. The conditions that the opposition (the Muslim rebels of the moujahedeen ) is imposing on us are not the conditions for the withdrawal of Soviet forces.”

Bessmertnykh said that increased moujahedeen attacks on Afghan government forces and the civilian population, as well as on Soviet units, had led to Moscow’s decision to defer further troop withdrawals as it worked to consolidate and stabilize the regime’s position there. He also criticized arms shipments to the Afghan rebels from their supporters, notably the United States.

Under an agreement signed April 14 in Geneva by Afghanistan and Pakistan, and formally guaranteed by the Soviet Union and the United States, the Soviet forces in Afghanistan--100,300 men on May 15, when the accords went into effect--were to be withdrawn within nine months.

Half the Soviet troops were pulled out in the first three months, as agreed, and Soviet officials announced that the balance would begin leaving Nov. 15 and be out by Feb. 15.

The Geneva agreement also called for the return of Afghan refugees from Pakistan and intensified efforts to reach a political settlement in the 10-year Afghan civil war.

Friday’s Foreign Ministry announcement, following the deployment of advanced Soviet warplanes in Afghanistan and the Afghan army’s use this week of short-range missiles, underscored the seriousness with which Moscow views the current moujahedeen offensive and the threat that it poses to the Afghan government.

In risking the collapse of the Geneva agreement, which was widely hailed when it was signed after years of difficult negotiations, Moscow is exposing itself to severe international criticism and to a popular backlash at home, where the Afghan war is increasingly regarded as a major blunder.

But the decision reflects Moscow’s mounting frustration over the failure of the Geneva agreement to end the Afghan civil war and its rising anger over what many senior Soviet officials view as deliberate efforts by members of the Reagan Administration to humiliate the Soviet Union by helping bring down the Marxist government in Kabul through a moujahedeen victory.

Western diplomats nevertheless expressed doubt Friday that the Soviet Union would halt its withdrawal and again seek a military resolution of the conflict.

Enormous Costs

“They know the enormous cost they would have to pay internationally as well as psychologically if they canceled the withdrawal now,” a senior Western diplomat commented, asking not to be quoted by name. “I think that what is happening is intended to convey a political message rather than change the military situation.”

After commenting on the increase in moujahedeen attacks on Afghan and Soviet targets, Bessmertnykh said, “The Soviet troops are being withdrawn due to the good will of the Soviet government, but they will be withdrawn in honorable conditions.”

He sharply criticized the unremitting flow of armaments of “U.S. and other origins” that the rebels received in Pakistan and carried into Afghanistan for the present offensive, and he called on the United States and Pakistan not only to stop arming the moujahedeen but also to use their influence to persuade the rebels to negotiate a peace settlement with the Kabul government.

“The Soviet Union intends to stand by its obligations under the Geneva accords,” he said, and added that for the agreement to be implemented, all four countries must carry out its provisions. “If none of the countries violate them, the accords will be fulfilled by the Soviet Union,” he said.

Bessmertnykh said that almost immediately after the Soviet forces began their withdrawal in May, the Muslim rebels had begun “building up their military activity” and “aggravating and abusing the situation.”

With more than 550 attacks on Soviet units over the past five months, Soviet casualties have continued, Bessmertnykh said, although he declined to give figures. “Such a situation is unacceptable to us,” he said.

The Soviet expectation was for a de facto truce, other officials added, noting Moscow’s discussions with both Washington and the Pakistan government in Islamabad on conditions for “a smooth withdrawal.”

“In Washington, we now see, we are dealing with some very vindictive men, who apparently believe there is more to be gained by demonstrating a Soviet ‘failure,’ if that is what Afghanistan turns out to be, than by building a stronger relationship based on trust and cooperation,” a senior Soviet foreign policy specialist said.

“Some of these people are ideologues holding policy positions in the Reagan Administration, but others are the so-called Soviet specialists in the State Department, in the Central Intelligence Agency and the Defense Department and in universities and institutes. . . . In their view, we must be punished and made to suffer.”

But the suffering, he said, is borne largely by civilians. The increased attacks on Afghan cities have caused hundreds of deaths, he said, adding that in Kabul alone, 750 people were killed, largely in rocket attacks and bombings, since May 15. In October, he said, 230 civilians died in the fighting.

The Soviet Union responded by deploying more advanced weapons of its own, notably MIG-27 warplanes and heavy Backfire and SU-24 bombers based in the Soviet Union, and by sending the Afghan army what Bessmertnykh called “more powerful means of destruction”--the SS-1 Scud missile, which has a range of up to 185 miles.

“To prevent the further mounting of terror and in view of the warnings made to the bandit units and their leaders, the Soviet Union has undertaken a number of countermeasures as a matter of protection and legitimate self-defense,” Bessmertnykh said.

Sensitive to Western criticism, Bessmertnykh emphasized that the number of personnel and the amount of their equipment were not being increased, only modernized.