Brezhnev and Giscard fail to ease Afghan situation

May 20, 1980

Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing apparently failed Monday to narrow East-West differences over Afghanistan in five hours of talks.

Mr. Giscard d'Estaing told reporters, however, that the meeting had achieved its major objective, since it enabled the two to exchange views on East-West tensions. The French President said Mr. Brezhnev expressed Soviet willingness to seek a political solution to the Afghan problem during the meeting. There was no immediate official Soviet comment.