Word: najibullah
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...effort to patch together a political future for the Moscow-backed regime of Afghan President Najibullah, Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze made a quick trip to Islamabad, where he conferred with Pakistan's leaders. But this attempt to cloak the embarrassed retreat with some diplomatic fig leaves failed, surprising few Soviet citizens, who have long since made up their minds about the misdirected war effort. "It was a noble cause," said a returning soldier last week, "and a mistake." Moscow's task will be to resurrect dignity from the rubble of a bitter defeat that cost 15,000 Soviet lives...
Then the question will be when, not if, the Soviet-backed regime of President Najibullah will fall. Though all the country's major cities are still under government control, Kandahar and Jalalabad, two of the five largest, have seen their defenses crumble under mujahedin attacks. Moscow insists it is determined to ensure the survival of Najibullah's government, but nearly all diplomats in Kabul believe the regime will collapse within months, perhaps even weeks, of Feb. 15. As the prospect of a bloody siege grew last week, U.S. Secretary of State James Baker ordered the closing of the American embassy...
...Soviet pullback from the capital began about three weeks ago, even as Yuli Vorontsov, the Soviet Ambassador to Afghanistan and a Deputy Foreign Minister, threatened that Moscow would halt the withdrawal if the mujahedin leadership did not accept some participation by Najibullah's People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (P.D.P.A.) in a shura, or council of leaders, that would choose a new government. The mujahedin, smelling a bluff, would not budge, and the pullout from Kabul continued...
Conflicts within the leadership of Najibullah's P.D.P.A. are so pronounced that since last fall the Soviets have retired, jailed or shipped to Moscow three members of the Afghan Politburo and several from the Central Committee. The regime claims to have 500,000 men under arms, but the figure appears to be grossly inflated. Though the Afghan army includes some well-trained and experienced units, like the 37th Commando Brigade, it is made up mostly of conscripts, many of whom are less than eager to fight for the regime. Apparently aware that a number of units are unreliable, the President...
Afghanistan's war-weary people wonder when, not if, the Moscow-backed regime of President Najibullah will fall. -- A leftist attack reawakens Argentina's ugly memories of the 1970s. -- Nicaragua's Ortega says he is ready to make peace with Washington. -- The Soviet Union's first contested elections bring confusion and conflict...