Word: mujahedin
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...Nothing important stands in the way of concluding a settlement," declared Afghan Foreign Minister Abdul Wakil last week, as the latest round of U.N.-sponsored peace talks began in Geneva. Pakistan, which represents the mujahedin rebels at the talks, and Afghanistan agreed that the withdrawal period for Soviet troops would be cut from ten to nine months...
Today the mujahedin have all but rid the skies of Mi-24s and MiG and Sukhoi jet fighter-bombers. Last week TIME's Robert Schultheis visited Jaji, an area in eastern Afghanistan where helicopter ambushes once forced the rebels to live like hunted hares. Resistance trucks now move through the area in daylight, and the guerrillas have built a rudimentary hospital. "When we were weak," says Commander Anwar, a local leader, "the Soviets didn't want to talk at all. They are only talking now because we are strong...
...that the assistance would be gradually reduced as the Soviets pull out. But the U.S. has already agreed, through the Pakistani negotiators in the U.N.-sponsored Geneva talks, to cut off military aid ($630 million in 1987) at the point when the Soviets begin to withdraw. Fearing that the mujahedin may be left exposed to attack by the Soviets, U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz declared last month that the Soviet withdrawal must be "front-end loaded," meaning that large numbers of troops must leave early on. Gorbachev appeared to accept that demand last week. But U.S. officials still fear...
...President Mohammed Zia ul-Haq, as Moscow fully realizes, is in a tight spot. Says Zain Noorani, Pakistan's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs: "We don't just want an agreement, we want an agreement that can be implemented." Specifically, Pakistan needs the cooperation of the seven-party mujahedin alliance to proceed with the peace agreement. Yet the guerrilla leadership will not accept an agreement with Najib. If Pakistan deals with him anyway, the results will probably be chaotic. The rebels would lose their arms pipeline -- including the Stingers -- and face a potent Soviet force for at least several...
...reason for the lack of progress is that after so much sacrifice, the mujahedin simply do not want to do business with Najib. Says Mohammed Nuristani, a rebel fighter: "How can we sit down with a man who has killed so many of our friends?" Another reason is the rivalry among rebel leaders. They range from religious zealots like Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, leader of Hezb-e-Islami (Gulbuddin), who want to erect a theocratic state, to Muslim moderates like Pir Gailani who favor the traditional Afghan way of life...