r No Objection To Declassi cation 2008 06 06 LC-131-6-5-14-9 tL- Cenuefuj Mr f Dear Mr Prime Minister awash Jet I greatly appreciated your message just before my meetings with Soviet General Secretary Gorbachev particularly the comments about your discussion of the Afghanistan problem with Soviet Prime Minister With General Secretary Gorbachev I underscored the importance of regional issues--particular1y Afghanistan--in shaping the long-term character of our relations I made the obvious point that a settlement depended mainly on the Soviet Union's willingness to set a firm timetable for the prompt departure of Soviet troops from Afghanistan Mr Gorbachev reiterated the Soviet intention to withdraw T but avoided a specific commitment beyond mentioning with favor Najibullah's recently publicized proposal for the withdrawal of Russian troops in no more than 12 months He stressed the linkage between the beginning of with- 1mgg drawals and the end of outside interference a matter - which wag settled long ago in the Geneva negotiations While continuegto agree that future political arrange ments should be left to the Afghans Mr Gorbachev seems wedded to ap o ch rather than accept the need_for a fresh start which would - have the full have agreed to continue our discussions and hope that you for your part will continue to share with the Soviets your concerns - along with your realistic assessment of the situation in Afghanistan The lack of movement on Afghanistan at the Summit stands in contrast to the giant strides we made towards our goal of meaningful nuclear arms reduction I appreciate your public praise of this progress and your letter of December 9 The agreement by General Secretary Gorbachev and myself to eliminate an entire class of U S and Soviet nuclear weapons is an historic first This agreement establishes precedents in verification which will be useful as we move to future agreements on arms reductions including reductions of strategic nuclear weapons Here too we made important progress As a result the General Secretary and I instructed our negotiators in Geneva to work to achieve an agreement on such reductions at the earliest possible date preferably in time for signature when I go to Moscow next year No Objection To Declassi cation 2008 06 06 NLC-131-6-5-14-9 No Objection To Declassi cation 2008 06 06 NLC-131-6-5-14-9 With this progress underway we must redouble our efforts to address other nuclear issues including those in South Asia You raised in your letter the proposal advanced by the Senate Appropriations Committee regarding the Indian and Pakistani nuclear programs which has since failed to secure the support of the full Senate I want you to know that there was never any change in this Administration's position on non-proliferation as we discussed during your visit here or in my strong commitment to our joint effort of strengthening our bilateral ties I am very conscious of the need to establish an atmosphere of confidence if we are to succeed in these efforts My Administration will continue working with Congress to that end We should dedicate ourselves during the next year to implementing the program we agreed on October 20 1987 Sincerely yours Ronald Reagan His Excellency Rajiv Gandhi Prime Minister of India New Delhi L- gun-- No Objection To Declassi cation 2008 06 06 This document is from the holdings of The National Security Archive Suite 701 Gelman Library The George Washington University 2130 H Street NW Washington D C 20037 Phone 202 994-7000 Fax 202 994-7005 nsarchiv@gwu edu