Geneva Convention (Afghanistan)
The Geneva Agreement consists of a series of treaties signed in Geneva on April 14, 1988 by Pakistan and the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan to end the Soviet-Afghan war , normalize the situation in Afghanistan and initiate the withdrawal of Soviet troops .
prehistory
Shortly after the Soviet troops marched into Afghanistan, the United Nations dealt with the issue in its General Assembly and in the Human Rights Commission . Namely, these “Geneva negotiations” were held in Geneva. The roundtables took place from 1982 to 1988. As early as May 1980, the Soviets offered the UN to give in, but in the belief at the time that the resistance fighters were facing defeat. The Soviets also called for the DVPA to be recognized as the sole representative of Afghanistan and for the resistance fighters not to be considered legitimate representatives of the conflict. The following five rounds of talks from 1983 and 1986 dealt primarily with the withdrawal of troops and the refugee problem. The decisive final round in 1987 led to a breakthrough, however, when the Afghan side declared that the withdrawal of Soviet forces could take place within 18 months if there was no external resistance from Pakistan.
The Geneva Agreement
The final document was signed on April 14, 1988 after negotiations led by the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Diego Cordovez . In the presence of the UN Secretary General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar , the Afghan Foreign Minister Mohammad Abdul Wakil and the Pakistani Minister of State Noorani and, as representatives of the guaranteeing governments, the American Foreign Minister George P. Shultz and the Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze signed two bilateral agreements in which non-interference and non-intervention were signed were the focus. It was mainly about normalizing and stabilizing relationships. The friendly rapprochement between the neighbors and the de-internationalization of the conflict were also in the foreground. The second agreement guaranteed the exchange of refugees. Also in a third document, the great powers promised to accept this order and not to continue to act as aggressors. The fourth agreement was signed by all participants and, in addition to the relations with one another, regulated the final withdrawal of the Soviet troops. The treaties went into effect one day later on April 15th.
consequences
The Geneva Agreement successfully de-internationalized the conflict, which made the war within Afghanistan, although a few days later Pakistan's Minister of State once again stressed that he would continue to support the mujahideen, which was met with suspicion by the USA. The Soviet withdrawal took place without any major loss of face, which the Geneva Agreement made possible. Nevertheless, the Geneva Agreement did not end the unrest in Afghanistan, which years later erupted again in the Afghan Civil War .
See also
literature
- Constanze Fröhlich: Afghanistan hotspot. An analysis of regional security implications, 1979–2004. Arnold Bergstraesser Institute, Freiburg 2005, ISBN 3-928597-43-4 .
- Diego Cordovez, Selig S. Harrison: Out of Afghanistan. The Inside Story of the Soviet Withdrawal . Oxford University Press, New York 1995, ISBN 0-19-506294-9 (English).
- Artemy M. Kalinovsky: A Long Goodbye. The Soviet Withdrawal from Afghanistan . Harvard University Press, Cambridge (Massachusetts) 2011, ISBN 978-0-674-05866-8 (English).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Afghanistan / Pakistan - UNGOMAP - Background. United Nations Good Offices Mission in Afghanistan and Pakistan, 2002, accessed August 22, 2020 .
- ↑ Diego Cordovez, Selig S. Harrison: Out of Afghanistan. The Inside Story of the Soviet Withdrawal . Oxford University Press, New York 1995, ISBN 0-19-506294-9 , pp. 362–363 (English, limited preview in Google Book Search).