Moscow Begins Withdrawing Troops From Afghan Capital

KABUL, Afghanistan â€”  The Soviet Union began withdrawing its army from the heavily defended Afghan capital Monday, one day after Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze ended a four-day visit to reassure the regime of Moscow’s continued support.

The pullout by about 500 Soviet soldiers in a convoy of 100 trucks and armored personnel carriers was the first major reduction of Moscow’s forces in Kabul since the Geneva peace accords were signed in April by Pakistan and Afghanistan and guaranteed by the United States and the Soviet Union.

Afghan Foreign Ministry officials said it was the first departure of a complete, Kabul-based Soviet unit, although Soviet sources said there have been a few departures of soldiers on a much smaller scale over the past few months.

The soldiers departed to the sound of a military brass band on their two-day journey to the Soviet border town of Termez. They wore flak jackets and carried flags and streamers given to them by Afghan troops.

As the column passed in front of the barracks, dozens of Afghans tossed flowers and waved farewell. Standing or seated on their vehicles, the Soviet soldiers in pointed bush hats looked impassively at the scene.

Moscow’s troops will have left all but four of Afghanistan’s 29 provinces within the coming days, Soviet officials have said.

Under the U.N.-mediated accords signed in Geneva, the Soviet Union promised to withdraw half its estimated 115,000 troops in Afghanistan by Aug. 15 and the remainder by Feb. 15.

But foreign analysts expect the Soviet Union to keep a strong military presence in Kabul for some time to come. They estimate that up to 22,000 Soviet troops are based in and around the city.