Won’t Aid Kabul With Air Strikes After Pullout, Soviet General Says

The top Soviet general in Afghanistan said Tuesday that once the pullout of his forces is completed by the Feb. 15 deadline, Moscow will no longer use its air power to support the Afghan government.

The Soviet Union has been using air power increasingly since last fall to try to push back guerrilla forces besieging Afghan cities, and recently to help keep open a key highway from the Soviet border. A major question is whether the Afghan regime will continue to receive such air support or will be able to use similar tactics with its own, smaller air force.

Pressed repeatedly on this issue, Lt. Gen. Boris Gromov finally said flatly: “I want to underline the Soviet Union will fulfill its commitments under the Geneva agreements. We don’t intend to bomb the territory of Afghanistan from Soviet territory after the withdrawal of Soviet soldiers.”

He said the Afghan army has “everything it needs” to continue keeping the roads open.

Americans Leave

The last 11 members of the U.S. Embassy staff left Afghanistan on Tuesday, a day after closing their mission because of concerns about fighting in Kabul after the Soviet army leaves.

Their chartered jet narrowly missed hitting a Soviet transport plane approaching Kabul, the two senior American diplomats said.

“We had a near-collision 10 minutes after takeoff with an incoming flight from the north,” Charge d’Affaires John Glassman said after the chartered Indian Airlines Boeing 737 arrived in New Delhi.

“Air traffic control at Kabul is never very good,” said James Shumaker, second-ranking diplomat at the Kabul embassy. He said the plane came within a mile of the Soviet Ilyushin 76 transport.

Both men praised pilot R.C. Maulay for his quick and expert evasive action. Maulay is a veteran of flights in and out of the Kabul airport.