Shevardnadze in Afghan Capital to Discuss Options
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MOSCOW — Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze arrived in Kabul on Sunday, saying he plans to confer with Afghan President Najibullah on policy options in case Geneva peace talks fail, Tass news agency said.
Shevardnadze told a Tass reporter at Kabul airport that Afghan and Soviet efforts at the Geneva talks are not being matched by the United States and Pakistan, which have been supporting Muslim rebels in Afghanistan.
Soviet and U.S. negotiators are struggling to agree on conditions for signing an Afghan peace accord covering the withdrawal of an estimated 115,000 Soviet troops from Afghanistan.
Moscow has agreed to pull out its forces over a 9-month period starting 2 months after the signing of a peace accord in Geneva.
But the talks have snagged over a recent U.S. demand for “symmetry”--a simultaneous halt to American military aid to the Muslim rebels and Soviet arms deliveries to Afghan government forces.
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