The World : Soviets, Afghan Rebels Talk

Afghan guerrillas and Soviet officials met in Saudi Arabia in the first such direct high-level talks since Soviet troops intervened in the conflict in Afghanistan in 1979. Leading the Soviet delegation at the talks in Taif, a Saudi resort 600 miles from Riyadh, is Yuli M. Vorontsov, a deputy foreign minister and the Soviet ambassador to Afghanistan. The five-member guerrilla delegation is led by Burhannudin Rabbani, leader of a loose alliance of seven Afghan resistance groups. Soviet officials have said the talks are aimed at reaching an internal settlement of the Afghan conflict.