
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 20, 1990                   TAG: 9003202801
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A5   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

AFGHANISTAN REBELS ASK MORE HELP

Pro-Western Afghan rebels say they are in grave need of U.S. weapons and food, and they have attracted backers in Congress.

"We're very desperate," said Mohamad Saljuqi of the National Islamic Front of Afghanistan, or NIFA, a moderate Sunni faction among the coalition of mujahedeen rebels. "I don't know how long we can go on."

Saljuqi's comments came in a telephone interview Monday from Tehran, Iran. There is growing controversy over the 10-year U.S. aid program to the mujahedeen. Support in Congress has been eroding following the Soviet military pullout from Afghanistan last year.

While conservatives believe the United States should increase supervision of its aid and make sure it gets to the right groups, liberals advocate a U.S. cutoff of aid for the rebels coupled with an end to Soviet aid for the Afghan government.

-Associated Press

by CNB