The sixth emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly was held between 10 and 14 January 1980 to consider the situation in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

. As the

Soviet–Afghan War The Soviet–Afghan War was a protracted armed conflict fought in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989. It saw extensive fighting between the Soviet Union and the Afghan mujahideen (alongside smaller groups of anti-Sovie ...

began members of the

United Nations General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; french: link=no, Assemblée générale, AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the UN. Curr ...

requested the

Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...

consider the situation. The

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

veto of a resolution led the other members to invoke the 'Uniting for Peace' resolution to defer the issue to the General Assembly in an emergency special session. It was the sixth emergency special session since the 'Uniting for Peace' resolution was adopted in 1950. The session was dominated by questions of its legitimacy since the Afghanistan government had invited the Soviet intervention in their

civil war A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

. Led by the non-aligned members, the session ended with a resolution from the General Assembly calling for the immediate, unconditional and total withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan and the cessation of all outside intervention, subversion, coercion or constraint, of any kind whatsoever, so that its people could freely choose its own economic, political and social systems.

Background

During the Saur Revolution on April 27, 1978, the communist People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan, aided by the

Khalq Khalq ( ps, خلق, ) was a faction of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA). Its historical ''de facto'' leaders were Nur Muhammad Taraki (1967–1979), Hafizullah Amin (1979) and Sayed Mohammad Gulabzoy (1979–1990). It was als ...

faction of the military, overthrew the government of Republic of Afghanistan and formed the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. A significant

insurgency An insurgency is a violent, armed rebellion against authority waged by small, lightly armed bands who practice guerrilla warfare from primarily rural base areas. The key descriptive feature of insurgency is its asymmetric nature: small irr ...

formed, led by the Mujahideen, and fought the new government who requested Soviet assistance to fight back. In December, they signed a Treaty of Friendship with the USSR and the Soviets provided military assistance. Meanwhile, the United States began funding and arming the insurgency. On December 17, 1979, PDPA general secretary

Hafizullah Amin Hafizullah Amin (Pashto/ prs, حفيظ الله امين; 1 August 192927 December 1979) was an Afghan communist revolutionary, politician and teacher. He organized the Saur Revolution of 1978 and co-founded the Democratic Republic of Afghan ...

requested Soviet assistance in a major offensive. The Soviets agreed and on 27 December, dressed in Afghan military uniforms, invaded

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...

but overthrew Amin and installed

Babrak Karmal Babrak Karmal (Farsi/ Pashto: , born Sultan Hussein; 6 January 1929 – 1 or 3 December 1996) was an Afghan revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Afghanistan, serving in the post of General Secretary of the People's Democratic Pa ...

as the new leader, clearing the way for a large-scale occupation. At the UN General Assembly, a letter was sent to the president of the Security Council requesting a Security Council meeting to consider the matter (letter signed jointly by Australia, The Bahamas, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, The Dominican Republic, Egypt, El Salvador, Ecuador, Fiji, The Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany), Greece, Haiti, Honduras, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Liberia, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Papua New-Guinea, Philippines, Portugal, Santa Lucia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Suriname, Sweden, The Netherlands, Turkey, The United Kingdom, Uruguay, The USA and Venezuela). The Security Council convened between the 5 and 9 of January 1980. Afghanistan and the Soviet Union denounced the meeting as interfering with domestic affairs of a Member State and that they were exercising their Treaty of Friendship and their right to collective self-defense under Article 51 of the UN Charter. The United States claimed the Soviet intervention violated the territorial integrity of Afghanistan and that with the death of General Secretary Amin, by Soviet forces, the Afghan government had been overthrown. A draft resolution calling for the immediate, unconditional and total withdrawal of the foreign troops was vetoed by the Soviet Union on the 7 of January. Two days later the Security Council adopted Resolution 462 acknowledging the lack of unanimity of its permanent members was preventing them from fulfilling their primary duty of maintaining peace and security, invoking the General Assembly's 'Uniting for Peace' resolution calling for an emergency special session. This was adopted with 12 supports, 2 opposes (USSR and

German Democratic Republic German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **G ...

), with 1 abstention (

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most central point. Its neighbours are t ...

Emergency special session

The sixth emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly began on 10 January. The session was dominated by questions of its legitimacy. In a speech, the representative from Afghanistan expressed "the strongest and most categorical objections to the discussion of the so-called question of the situation in Afghanistan. The convening of a special session of the General Assembly on this issue constitutes an open and flagrant interference in the internal affairs of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan." The Soviets also argued that the session was being held in contravention to

Charter of the United Nations The Charter of the United Nations (UN) is the foundational treaty of the UN, an intergovernmental organization. It establishes the purposes, governing structure, and overall framework of the UN system, including its six principal organs: the ...

which respects the internal affairs of member states. Surprisingly, India sided with the Soviet Union in a speech by

Brajesh Mishra Brajesh Chandra Mishra (29 September 1928 – 28 September 2012) was an Indian diplomat from the Indian Foreign Service and politician, best known for serving as Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's principal secretary and National Security ...

on 11 January when he acknowledged that the Soviets provided the assistance that both General Secretary Amin and his successor requested, and furthermore, that the Soviets would leave Afghanistan at the request of the Afghanistan government. Pakistan, which had been taking in refugees at its border with Afghanistan, took a particularly harsh stance against the Soviets and called for them to withdraw their forces. Led by the non-aligned members, the General Assembly adopted Resolution ES-6/2 "strongly deplor ngthe recent armed intervention in Afghanistan… ndappeals to all States to respect the sovereignty, territorial integrity, political independence and non-aligned character of Afghanistan and to refrain from any interference in the internal affairs of that country ndcalls for the immediate, unconditional and total withdrawal of the foreign troops from Afghanistan in order to enable its people to determine their own form of government and choose their economic, political and social systems free from outside intervention, subversion, coercion or constraint of any kind whatsoever..." The resolution also appealed to all states and organizations for humanitarian relief for refugees via the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.Resolution ES-6/2
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References

Notes General * {{United Nations General Assembly 06 Foreign relations of the Soviet Union 1980 in the Soviet Union 1980 in international relations 1980 in the United Nations January 1980 events 1980 in Afghanistan

Background

Emergency special session

See also

References