The World - News from March 18, 1988

The Soviet Union will withdraw its troops from Afghanistan whether or not a peace agreement is reached in deadlocked negotiations in Geneva, a Soviet Foreign Ministry spokesman said in Moscow. Vadim Perfilyev, deputy chief of the Foreign Ministry’s Information Directorate, told a news conference: “The Soviet Union took a decision to withdraw its forces from Afghanistan, and we’ll do that. . . . But we would like to see it (the withdrawal) in the framework of those documents” under discussion at the Geneva peace talks between Afghanistan and Pakistan. “If our decision is not welcomed, our withdrawal will be taken in other forms,” Perfilyev added. “We’ll do it ourselves.” Moscow said Tuesday that its pullout plan would have to be delayed because it was tied to the goal of a March 15 agreement at Geneva.