Top Chinese official ties Afghan solution to pullout

October 21, 1982

Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang said that supporting guerrillas fighting Soviet troops in Afghanistan was not incompatible with seeking a political solution there, the New China News Agency reported.

The agency said Mr. Zhao, who did not mention the Soviet Union by name, told journalists accompanying Pakistani President Zia ul-Haq on his visit to China that a political solution in Afghanistan had to be based on the ''occupying superpower's'' withdrawing all its troops. China, pledging ''active'' support to the Afghan guerrillas, has said the presence of Soviet troops in Afghanistan is a major factor blocking a thaw in Chinese-Soviet relations.