Word: najibullah
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...supporting rebellious activities" -- wording that was clearly aimed at stopping the flow of U.S. weaponry through Pakistan to the mujahedin, the Afghan resistance forces. That provision has been a source of contention between the superpowers for many weeks. The Soviets refused to cut off their arms supplies to President Najibullah, the leader Moscow installed in Kabul in 1986. Washington insisted on "symmetry," the right to arm the mujahedin as long as Moscow helped Kabul, and two weeks ago Moscow grudgingly agreed...
...million, a sixth of the population, flee to neighboring Pakistan and Iran. In fact, last week's Tashkent accord may be just the opening bell for the war's final round. The main question remains unanswered: Who will control the country, the mujahedin or the forces of the Najibullah government? Moscow apparently feels that Najibullah can survive with Soviet military and economic aid or at least hold heavily fortified Kabul and a broad corridor leading north to the Soviet border. Officials in Washington and Islamabad, on the other hand, are confident that the mujahedin will score telling successes against...
...rebels once the Soviets began to leave Afghanistan, provided their withdrawal was rapid enough. But now some U.S. officials and legislators felt such a move would leave the resistance dangerously exposed. Islamabad balked because the Geneva proposals did not make provisions for the removal of the Najibullah regime, the most important demand of the mujahedin...
...there could be no agreement without the establishment of an interim government in Kabul that included representatives of the resistance groups. Under pressure from the U.S. Congress to defend the mujahedin's interests, the U.S. raised the stakes even further by insisting that Moscow stop all military aid to Najibullah after the pullout. Moscow rejected both points, and Pakistan subsequently backed off from its interim-regime demand when it became clear that the fractious resistance leaders would never accept even token Communist representation in any coalition government...
...treaty commitments to provide Kabul with military aid. Then, two weeks ago, U.S. diplomats turned Washington's position on its head in a compromise proposal made to the Soviets: Would Moscow go along with continued U.S. arms supplies to the mujahedin at levels "symmetrical" to Moscow's support for Najibullah? "Unacceptable" was the response by Soviet Foreign Ministry Spokesman Gennadi Gerasimov, and Foreign Minister Shevardnadze threatened a unilateral Soviet pullout without an agreement at Geneva. In the end, Gorbachev apparently decided that a formal accord was too important to lose. "What they needed was a fig leaf," observed a Western...