Afghan Rebels, High Soviet Officials Reportedly Ready for Political Talks

In what could be a major breakthrough in the nine-year conflict between Afghan guerrilla forces and the Soviet Union, the groundwork has been laid for the two sides to hold a high-level meeting to discuss major political issues, according to well-informed sources.

These sources said the meeting was scheduled for this week in Saudi Arabia, but a report in a Pakistani paper Tuesday morning about the previously highly secret session may lead to changes.

The direct talks are expected to involve a Soviet delegation led by Moscow’s ambassador to Afghanistan, Yuli M. Vorontsov, and a three-man rebel delegation.

A Soviet delegation and representatives of the seven-party Afghan Alliance met last weekend in Islamabad to discuss the limited question of a prisoner exchange. The meeting in Saudi Arabia would significantly broaden the range of discussions.

Moscow, which has not confirmed reports of the meeting, was said by sources to be “not quite ready,” although other sources said that “the ice has been broken.”

The seven-party alliance also reportedly was split on the meeting.

The leadership of the guerrillas, or moujahedeen, has insisted that no talks with the Soviet-backed government in Kabul were possible and that Moscow would have to deal directly with the alliance leadership, something the Kremlin previously has refused to do except for local contacts with guerrilla commanders inside Afghanistan.

While the Soviet Union has taken an increasingly harder public position on the future of the Geneva accords on Afghanistan and has been stepping up arms assistance to Kabul, Soviet officials also have been signaling their interest in more intensive efforts to reach a political solution to the future of the country before the Feb. 15 deadline for withdrawal of their forces.