The World - News from March 20, 1988

The Afghan government called an election for next month to fill 291 seats in both houses of the two-chamber National Assembly. The April 6-15 vote was announced as U.N.-mediated talks in Geneva remained stalled over future Soviet aid to the Kabul regime and the issue of who will govern after Soviet troops withdraw. A spokesman for guerrillas based in neighboring Pakistan said the Kabul government is not legitimate and denounced the election as “another trick to deceive the people.”