World Notes AFGHANISTAN

The offer had all the first-glance appeal that observers have learned to expect from recent Soviet peace proposals. It came from Afghan Communist Party Leader Najibullah, who said last week that his Soviet-backed government would observe the first cease-fire in its seven-year war against the country's Muslim rebels. Najibullah, who was installed last May with the support of the 120,000 Soviet troops in Afghanistan, said the truce would begin on Jan. 15.

The date marks the anniversary of another peace overture: Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev's 1986 call for nuclear disarmament. As in the case of the earlier proposal, however, the prospects for last week's offer seemed bleak. Najibullah bluntly qualified the initiative, stating that "if someone continues to fire, he will get a fitting rebuff." Mohammed Nabi Mohammedi, the rebels' chief spokesman, labeled the cease-fire offer a "sham" and immediately rejected it.