NEW DELHI, Nov 19, Reuter: Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev said on Saturday the United States and Pakistan were acting as though they wanted Moscow to cancel the withdrawal of its troops from Afghanistan.

In a speech at a ceremony during which he was awarded the 1987 Indira Gandhi prize for peace, disarmament, and development, Gorbachev also urged continuing improved relations between India, China and the Soviet Union.

The Kremlin Leader said the entire world recognized the importance of last April’s quadripartite Geneva accords under which the Soviet Union is due to pull combat troops out of Afghanistan by February 15.

“However, it appears that Pakistan and the United States find it hard to accept new approaches to international affairs,” he said.

”Their actions appear to indicate that they would like to make us rescind those accords, even though the grave consequences of that are obvious.

The Soviet Union has repeatedly accused Pakistan and the United States of violating the Geneva Peace accords by continuing to supply arms to Afghan rebels.

The Kremlin has suspended its pullout from Afghanistan complaining that the military situation has worsened there as the rebels step up attacks on the Afghan Army and Soviet positions.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Gennady Gerasimov said in Moscow on Friday the Soviet Union still intended to pull all its troops out of Afghanistan by the February 15 deadline, “provided the Geneva accords are not finally violated.”

More than half the 105,000 strong Soviet forces was withdrawn by August 15 in the first phase.

On Asian-Pacific relations, Gorbachey said Moscow was pleased to see signs of improvement in Indo-Chinese relations and added that the Kremlin’s own ties with China were evolving in a positive way.

He said a Soviet-Chinese summit was probably not too far away, but gave no date.

The Foreign Ministers of the Soviet Union and China are visiting each other’s capitals in the coming months to prepare the groundwork for a possible Sino-Soviet summit.

Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi travels to Peking next month, the first visit by an Indian leader in 34 years.

Thinking of countries like the Soviet Union, India and China, one is inevitably led to realize that improving relations between them are extremely important for the destinies of Asia and Global progress,” he said.

Gorbachey arrived in India on Friday for a three-day official visit, his first trip abroad in his new role as Soviet President.

Article extracted from this publication >> November 25, 1988