Reports on the war are sketchy and probably biased, since they are based on accounts given either by Pakistan-based rebel groups or by journalists taken on conducted tours by the government.

Infighting between the Parcham and Khalq factions of the party is less evident in 1983 than in previous years, and it appears that the Soviets have succeeded in bringing them under control.

The interrelated elements of a comprehensive settlement are the withdrawal of foreign troops, international guarantees of noninterference and nonintervention, and arrangements for the return of Afghan refugees to Afghanistan.

Andropov, Soviet Foreign Minister Andrey Gromyko, and UN Secretary-General Pérez de Cuéllar hold talks in Moscow on ways of normalizing the situation in Afghanistan.

Iran, which by its own estimate houses 1.5 million Afghan refugees, boycotted the talks because it believed that no negotiations should be undertaken without the participation of the guerrillas.