Afghanistan Government

Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev's proposals for a cease-fire in Afghanistan and a new international conference to guarantee Kabul's future neutrality met with a cool response Thursday from Afghan guerrilla leaders. "If Gorbachev wants a settlement of the Afghan problem, he should withdraw all Soviet forces and stop supporting the puppet regime in Kabul," said Yunis Khalis, one of the seven leaders of the anti-Soviet Afghan rebel alliance.

Yunis Khalis, head of the seven-party Afghan guerrilla alliance fighting the Soviet-backed regime in Afghanistan, resigned the position. A statement issued in Pakistan, where the Muslim guerrillas are based, cited health reasons. But the resignation of Khalis, 69, an Islamic fundamentalist, came at the end of a week that exposed deep differences among moderates and fundamentalists over the future of Afghanistan, including the nature of a transitional regime when Soviet troops withdraw.

A Soviet official conceded on Thursday that Moscow had made a mistake in believing the Kabul government could gain control of Afghanistan. Yevgeny M. Primakov said the Kremlin, whose forces have backed the Kabul regime since 1979, now wants a coalition Afghan government composed of all factions including the ruling People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan.

"Meet the 'Olympic' team of Afghanistan," the announcer shouted through a loudspeaker as 32 of the meanest, roughest Afghan guerrillas one could imagine lined up on horseback in front of the mud reviewing stand where the American ambassador sat. "This game is being played today in honor of the victory of Afghanistan over the Soviet Union, in the hope that we will return to our country soon and play better games there," the announcer said.

Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto said Saturday that power in Afghanistan should be handed over rapidly to a broad-based interim government. At a banquet in which Chinese Premier Li Peng welcomed her to Beijing on her first official trip abroad as prime minister, she said the ongoing Soviet withdrawal showed "the futility of foreign military intervention."