Word: mujahedin
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...March 15 target date for an agreement on a Soviet pullout from Afghanistan came and went last week without an accord. The main snag in the negotiations between the Afghan government and Pakistan, which represents the U.S.-backed mujahedin rebels, was the so-called symmetry issue, with Washington demanding that the Soviets cut off all military aid to the Afghan government at the same time that the U.S. ends arms deliveries to the rebels. The issue may be resolved this week when Secretary of State George Shultz and Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze meet in Washington...
...March 15 as the target date for concluding the negotiations, promising that if it was met, Moscow would begin withdrawing its 115,000-member army of occupation from Afghanistan by May 15. Yet last week key negotiators, including Pakistani Minister of State Zain Noorani, whose government represents the mujahedin rebels, admitted that the putative deadline would pass without an agreement. Said Noorani: "It's out of the question...
...major sticking point was a demand by Washington, voiced only two weeks ago, that any cutoff of U.S. military aid to the mujahedin must be matched by a "symmetrical cessation" of arms deliveries to the Afghan government by Moscow. Kozyrev contended that the Soviets have been providing military supplies to Afghanistan for decades and that any attempt to end such assistance amounts to interference in Soviet affairs. Said the Soviet negotiator: "It would be like Moscow asking the U.S. to end its military aid for Pakistan...
Among the hurdles that remain is the rebel leaders' opposition to any agreement that would shut down the CIA arms pipeline through Pakistan. The mujahedin complain that shipments have declined more than 50% over the past two months, despite a U.S. promise to escalate them...
...mujahedin have also been unhappy with some of the aid getting through. Last December the U.S. shipped almost 2,000 Tennessee mules to Pakistan to carry rebel supplies across the border. However, Pakistani sources say many of the animals have not adjusted to their new climate. Some have died, others have developed conjunctivitis, and many are just too wobbly to work...