Afghan Rebels Accused of Arms Buildup

MOSCOW — Pravda charged Saturday that anti-Soviet insurgents are moving large quantities of arms and ammunition into Afghanistan in the midst of negotiations seeking an end to Afghanistan’s civil war.

“Interference in the domestic affairs of this republic is not diminishing and, if anything, is escalating,” the Communist Party daily said in a dispatch from Kabul, the Afghan capital.

Afghanistan and Pakistan, which represents the U.S.-backed Afghan guerrillas, began a new round of negotiations in Geneva recently designed to end the fighting.

On Thursday, they agreed on the main elements of a U.N.-mediated peace accord that includes provisions for the withdrawal of about 115,000 Soviet troops from Afghanistan within nine months.

The Kremlin, which sent troops and tanks into Afghanistan in December, 1979, backs the Marxist government of President Najibullah against the Muslim guerrillas.

Moved From Pakistan

Pravda said guerrilla arms dumps and bases have begun to be moved from neighboring Pakistan to Afghanistan.

Pravda said its reporter was told at the headquarters of the Soviet military force in Afghanistan that the move was being made to make certain a peace agreement reached in Geneva would not deprive the rebels of arms.

The United States has said it would agree to halt its arms aid to the guerrillas when the Soviet troops withdraw.

On Friday, a U.S. senator and strong proponent of aid to the Afghan guerrillas said there had been a sharp decline in the movement of U.S. aid.

Sen. Gordon J. Humphrey (R-N.H.) told a Washington news conference: “I want to know if this is negligence or a sellout of the Afghan resistance.”

Humphrey said one of his staff members, Michael Pillsbury, spent four days in Peshawar, Pakistan, and came back with the conclusion that “the flow of weapons has decreased markedly and suddenly.”

Arms Airlifts Urged

The approach of an agreement at the Geneva talks “makes it all the more imperative that we get some airlifts under way,” Humphrey said.

A State Department official, however, said the United States will maintain its support for the Afghan guerrillas.

“We’re not going to sell out the resistance,” department spokeswoman Phyllis Oakley said Friday. “We have said that we will maintain military support . . . until an agreement is fully satisfactory.”

The United States provides weapons to the guerrillas, including Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, but the amount of military aid is classified. However, U.S. government sources have said Congress increased the level to $630 million this year.