Afghanistan, 1982

May I, on behalf of the delegation of the

Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, congratulate

Mr. Hollai of Hungary on his election to the high

office of the presidency of the thirty-seventh

session of the General Assembly. His election to

that important post is not only precognition of

his professional and human qualities, but also a

well-deserved tribute to his country, with which

we enjoy the best of relations. These relations

were further consolidated by the signing 10 days

ago of the Treaty of Friendship and Co-operation

between our two countries during the visit of

Babrak Karmal, General Secretary of the Central

Committee of the People's Democratic Party of

Afghanistan and President of the Revolutionary

Council, to his fraternal country. I hope that

under his presidency the current session of the

General Assembly will make a notable contribution

to the cause of strengthening international peace

and security. I should like to assure him that

the Afghan delegation will fully co-operate with

him and help him in every way to discharge his

duties. May I also express my appreciation to his

predecessor, the prominent Iraqi statesman and

diplomat, Mr. Kittani, for his skilful conduct of

the deliberations of the last few sessions of the

General Assembly. I should further like to pay a

tribute to the Secretary-General for his tireless

efforts to make the United Nations more efficient

in maintaining peace and security.

At the thirty-sixth session, during the general

debate, we spoke at length about two trends in

the world arena. Since then the confrontation of

these two trends has acquired a still more acute

and tense character.

Numerous facts in international affairs clearly

testify to a growth in the tendencies of the

foreign policy of the imperialist forces, the

United States of America in the first place. The

imperialists are engaged in all-round

psychological and material preparations for war,

carrying on the arms race on an unprecedented

scale and building up their military strength

both qualitatively and quantitatively. Their

interference in the affairs of sovereign States

is being expanded, special forces are being set

up for armed intervention, their military

presence in various parts of the world is being

increased old bases are being modernized and new

ones are being established. One of the negative

consequences of that policy is the fact that the

non-aligned developing countries are becoming

more and more involved in the ruinous arms race,

which undermines their struggle to achieve

economic independence and social progress. The

imperialist policy of the use of force has

dragged the whole world closer to the edge of

nuclear catastrophe. That is an alarming reality

of the present- day situation, which poses a

serious threat to the very existence of all

countries and peoples, large or small, developed

or developing. This threat urgently demands the

collective efforts of all peoples of the entire

globe to put an end to the arms race,

particularly the nuclear one, to prevent the

imperialist, adventurist and militarist circles

from carrying on their mad drive towards a new

war, to improve the international climate, to

find solutions to the crucial problems at the

negotiation table and to secure peace all over

the world. The concern of millions of people over

the destiny of mankind was vividly expressed in

the statements by most of the delegations during

the second special session of the General

Assembly on disarmament and in the mass

manifestations throughout the world.

To avert the threat of an outbreak of a

thermonuclear war is the main and primary task of

the United Nations, which was created for the

very purpose of preserving peace and preventing

the destruction of man's civilization. In a world

where attempts are made in some quarters to

convince the public of the admissibility of

"limited" or "protracted" nuclear war, will the

Organization be able to prevent the world from

slipping into such a war? We hold the strong

opinion that it is within our ability to avert

the danger of a nuclear holocaust. The policies

and the tireless efforts of the peace-loving

forces, represented by socialist States and the

non-aligned countries, are aimed at that very

purpose. It is only natural that we have given

our support to all initiatives and proposals for

curbing the arms race and, first of all, the

prevention of the use or threat of use of nuclear

weapons. We regard the unilateral declaration by

the Soviet Union on non-first-use of nuclear

weapons as a gigantic step towards reducing the

danger of the outbreak of a nuclear

confrontation. If complemented by similar

declarations by the other nuclear-weapon States,

the possibility of such an outbreak would be

reduced to naught.

We also warmly welcome the two new proposals by

the Soviet Union which were advanced in the

statement of the Foreign Minister of the Soviet

Union, Mr. Andrei Gromyko, aimed at warding off

the threat of nuclear war and achieving the

cessation of the nuclear arms race.

We earnestly hope that the thirty-seventh session

of the General Assembly will give a strong

impetus to the negotiations on the most urgent

concrete problems—halting the arms race and

achieving real disarmament—and thus help to

consolidate international detente.

Countries in different parts of the world are

raising more and more insistently the question of

adopting and carrying out regional measures aimed

at creating more harmonious relations among the

countries of their regions and promoting

stability, which in turn would strengthen

international peace and security.

In this connection I should like to say that the

armed incursions with the use of sophisticated

weaponry into the Democratic Republic of

Afghanistan still continue unabated, which

aggravates the situation around Afghanistan.

The hypocritical and demagogic approach of the

imperialist countries, particularly the United

States, the Chinese hegemonists and other

reactionary quarters is yet another obstacle to

the steady and natural improvement of the

situation in the region of South-West Asia. In

addition to the previous United States

Administration's covert and overt actions, the

United States Senate took another provocative

decision in recent days on the supply of arms to

the bands of terrorists attacking Afghanistan

from abroad. This is an of clear and outright

interference in the internal affairs of a State

Member of the United Nations and is a blatant

violation of international law and all norms

governing international relations. It is

tantamount to instigating terrorism against a

small country and exporting terrorism into that

country. It must be firmly condemned, and we

believe that the international community will

take note of it.

We emphatically state to the aforementioned

quarters and to all others who still cherish the

illusion of turning back the wheels of history in

Afghanistan that our heroic nation has determined

its destiny once and for all and is resolved to

construct an independent, democratic and just

system. With or without the obstructionist

designs adopted by the enemies of our revolution,

the glorious march towards those goals will

continue unhindered.

As for the present-day situation inside my

country, the corrective actions and principled

line of the Revolutionary Government have yielded

the fruits which were expected. A greater degree

of stability and normalcy has made possible the

speedy recovery of economic and social

activities. As a result of the recent call made

by Babrak Karmal, large numbers of Afghan

nationals who had gone to the neighbouring

countries for various reasons have returned to

their homes. Had certain quarters not created

obstacles, the number of returnees would have

been much higher. More and more sectors of the

society are how rallying behind their Government

and taking an active part in the defence of the

revolution and its achievements.

The mercenaries and hirelings of imperialism and

international reactionary forces are suffering

severe blows; most of their hideouts have been

wiped out and their arms captured. Needless to

say, banditry and terrorism would have long since

vanished were they not supported, financed and

equipped from external quarters. These

interventions and incursions constitute the cause

of instability and differences in our region

which can and must be tackled by peaceful means,

through negotiations. Time has demonstrated the

validity of our approach to the problem and has

clearly shown that our initiatives put forward on

15 May 1980 and 24 August 1981 are flexible and

realistic enough to be a sound basis for a

comprehensive settlement of the situation and

normalization of relations among neighbouring

countries.

We shall continuously and sincerely pursue our

efforts for the resolution of the situation

around Afghanistan. As was stated by Babrak

Karmal at the ninth plenum of the Central

Committee of the People's Democratic Party of

Afghanistan:

"We have declared many a time and once again

proclaim that it is our desire to make our

relations with our eastern and western

neighbours, that is, Pakistan and Iran, normal

and even friendly on the basis of good will and

reason through constructive talks. ... the Geneva

talks showed that foundations existed for the

achievement of agreements acceptable to both

sides on all of the issues concerning an

all-sided critical solution and that only good

will and understanding were needed to solve the

existing differences. We are ready, as far as the

Democratic Republic of Afghanistan is concerned,

to meet them half-way in order to improve

conditions in the region and to normalize our

relations with them."

We express our appreciation to the Secretary-

General and his personal representative, Mr.

Diego Cordovez, for their efforts to bring the

parties concerned closer in order to achieve a

negotiated settlement, and assure them of our

continued co-operation.

The question of strengthening security and easing

tension in the Indian Ocean has acquired great

urgency in the past few years. The right of the

nations of that region to peaceful life and their

desire to concentrate their efforts on their

economic and social development have been

jeopardized by the increased military activity of

the United States, by its constant blocking of

the efforts to convene the Conference on the

Indian Ocean. We have invariably supported the

desire of the coastal States of the Indian Ocean

to turn that region into a zone of peace where

all foreign military bases would be dismantled

and no one would threaten the security,

independence and sovereignty of the States in the

region. The Democratic Republic of Afghanistan

resolutely supports the holding of the Conference

in Colombo on 9 May 1983 as proposed by

non-aligned countries that are members of the

/If? Committee on the Indian Ocean We reaffirm

our support for the proposal by the President of

the Democratic Republic of Madagascar, Mr.

Ratsiraka, for the convening of a summit

conference of hinterland and littoral States of

the Indian Ocean region, to be held in

Antananarivo.

In the context of regional security my delegation

speaks out in favour of the initiative of the

Mongolian People's Republic on the signing of a

convention on mutual non-aggression and non-use

of force in the Asian and Pacific region. The

decision and proposals of the Conference of

Foreign Ministers of the three Indo-Chinese

countries held in Ho Chi Minh City on 6 and 7

July 1982 constitutes a concrete and realistic

programme for the normalization of the situation

in that region of South-east Asia. These steps,

if accepted, will undoubtedly contribute to a

substantial improvement in the political climate

in the region in favour of peace, stability and

co-operation between the Indo-Chinese countries

and the countries members of the Association of

South-east Asian Nations.

The recent setting up of the so-called Coalition

Government is but a scheme of China in collusion

with United States imperialism and other

reactionary forces to cover up the abominable

face of the genocidal Pol Pot clique and to be

used as an instrument against the rebirth of the

Kampuchean people and for interference in the

internal affairs of the People's Republic of

Kampuchea, to create tension and to haltthe

tendency towards reconciliation and co-operation

in the region.

The Democratic Republic of Afghanistan also

supports the proposals of the Democratic People's

Republic of Korea for the reunification of Korea

in a peaceful and democratic way as a

constructive step towards peace and stability in

the region.

After over three decades of wars and

confrontations the situation in the Middle East

has acquired still further explosive dimensions

due to the aggressive, expansionist and racist

nature of the Zionist entity supported by United

States imperialism. During the recent Israeli

aggression against Lebanon the world was outraged

to witness how far Washington's support of Tel

Aviv's aggressive plans spreads and how

disproportionately great are the ambitions of the

Israeli leaders, who are ready to use every means

available to achieve their delirious

over-ambitious aims regarding the creation of

Greater Israel.

The hideous Israeli crimes of genocide and

massacre of the Palestinian civilians in the

refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila in west Beirut

will forever remain unsurpassed in the history of

mankind. But the Israeli aggressors and their

American patrons must remember that the popular

movement based on the legitimate aspirations of

the Palestinians cannot be suppressed by brute

force. The Palestinian people will never be

crushed by an aggressor. Their just cause will

eventually triumph. It is evident that the

aggressor would not be able to behave so brazenly

if its partner in strategic co-operation were not

the biggest imperialist Power. That is why the

United States shares responsibility for the

horrendous crimes that have been and are being

committed in Lebanon.

Israel's designs to win an easy victory by

forcing the Palestinians to surrender proved to

be miscalculations. The aggressors met with

valiant resistance from the Palestinians, the

patriotic Lebanese forces and the Syrian armed

forces, whose courage has won them admiration.

The Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, as a

staunch supporter of the Palestinian and Arab

cause, once again expresses its all-round

solidarity with our Palestinian brothers in their

heroic struggle. We demand the immediate and

complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from all

occupied Arab territories and restoration of the

inalienable rights of the Palestinian people,

including their right to establish their national

State in Palestine.

Afghanistan believes that it is now imperative to

start a collective search for an all-embracing,

just and realistic settlement in the Middle East

within the framework of a specially convened

international conference as set out in the

Brezhnev six-point plan. We have also noted with

interest the relevant outcome of the Twelfth Arab

Summit Conference, held at Fez.

At its thirty-seventh session the General

Assembly is expected to bring pressure to bear on

the Zionists and their imperialist supporters,

particularly United States imperialism, with a

view to ensuring full compliance with the

repeated calls of the international community.

Since the beginning of the unfortunate armed

conflict between Iraq and the Islamic Republic of

Iran, the continuation of which will seriously

affect not only those two neighbouring Islamic

countries but the entire region, we have

sincerely hoped that the Governments of Iran and

Iraq will desist from actions that may cause the

situation to worsen still further and that they

will find peaceful ways and means of resolving

their disputes.

We express our appreciation for the work done by

the Secretary-General and his mission in this

regard. We urge him to continue his efforts aimed

at finding a just and peaceful solution to this

tragic conflict.

As in the past, Afghanistan expresses its full

support for the independence, sovereignty,

territorial integrity, unity and non-aligned

status of the Republic of Cyprus.

We stand side by side with our African brothers

in their struggle against imperialism,

colonialism, neo colonialism and for

independence, social justice and development.

The Democratic Republic of Afghanistan strongly supports the

people of Namibia, which, under the leadership of

their sole legitimate representative, SWAPO, are

struggling against the apartheid regime's

occupation,

We reaffirm our solidarity with the heroic

peoples of South Africa in their struggle to free

themselves from the abhorrent system of

apartheid. We resolutely condemn the South

African racist regime's continued aggression

against Angola and other front-line States and

its attempts to topple the Governments of some

independent African countries, particularly that

of Seychelles.

In our view the Assembly should take action to

increase assistance to the national liberation

movements with a view to accelerating exercise of

the right of self-determination and the

independence of peoples still under alien and

colonial domination.

It is in this context that we express support for

the struggle of the Sahraoui Arab Democratic

Republic for full sovereignty over its territory.

We are in solidarity with the people of Puerto

Rico trying to exercise their right to

self-determination and full independence.

My delegation reaffirms the fU.t support of the

Democratic Republic of Afghanistan for

Mauritius's sovereignty over Diego Garcia Island.

We also strongly demand the return of the

Malagasy Islands of Glorieuses, Juan de Nova,

Europa and Bassas da India to the Democratic

Republic of Madagascar.

It is our belief that the Malvinas Islands are an

integral part of the Argentine Republic.

The situation in Central and Latin America and in

the Caribbean has been further aggravated as a

result of the interventionist, aggressive

policies of the United States.

While strongly condemning the sinister plots of

the United States Administration in the region,

the Government of the Democratic Republic of

Afghanistan expresses full solidarity with the

revolutionary peoples of Cuba, Nicaragua,

Grenada, El Salvador and other peoples of Latin

America in their struggle against United States

imperialism.

The present state of the international economic

situation constitutes a source of deep concern

for the developing countries. The reluctance of

certain capitalist countries regarding the

launching of a genuine dialogue with the

developing countries within the framework of the

United Nations has so far prevented the

achievement of agreements on structural changes

in the mechanism of international economic

relations. The prevailing uncertainty about the

world economy clearly shows the essential need

for a new and just international economic order

that would benefit all. Therefore no effort

should be spared within the framework of the

United Nations and within the regional

organizations to overcome the disparities of the

present situation. That situation, coupled with

the economic policies adopted by many Western

countries, places serious constraint for the

developing countries, attempts to attain the

growth rates established in the International

Development Strategy for the Third United Nations

Development Decade. This adverse impact has been

particularly grave for the least developed

landlocked countries. Their growth rate has been

retarded, and they have witnessed an actual

decline in their per capita gross domestic

product in recent years. While in 1970 the

average per capita gross national product of the

least developed countries was 36.3 per cent of

that of all developing countries, it declined

further, at the end of 1979, to 29.1 per cent.

Compared with the average annual growth of 3.1

per cent in the gross domestic product of all

developing countries in past decade, the

achievement of the least developer countries was

even less than one per cent during the same

period. We thus emphasize the need for special

measures, large-scale assistance and continued

support by the international community for the

development of the least developed countries and

we stress the need for full and timely

implementation of the Substantial New Programme

of Action for the 1980s for the Least Developed

Countries adopted in Paris.

The distinctive and disadvantageous position of

land-locked countries and their need for adequatetransport

and transit facilities in the promotion of their

trade and economic development has been

recognized by various United Nations agencies and

international conferences, and numerous

resolutions have been adopted specifically to

overcome those problems. However, it is

regrettable that effective and full

implementation of those decisions, including the

establishment of a Special Fund for Land-locked

Developing Countries, has not materialized.

We stress the importance of economic cooperation

among developing countries as a means of

promoting the rational and efficient use of

human, material and financial resources available

for the progress of developing countries. I

should also like to stress that the international

community should generate the necessary pressure

to put an end to the arms race, in order to

release the enormous resources badly needed for

development programmes for the developing

countries. Realistically, it would be impossible

to analyse in one statement all the economic,

social, political and security problems facing

our world. It is even less possible to suggest

the solutions required for those problems.

Nevertheless, due attention must be paid to those

which are outstanding and remain global in

character.

To underline the approach taken by the Democratic

Republic of Afghanistan to those problems, allow

me to quote briefly from a statement by Babrak

Karmal:

"The Government of the Democratic Republic of

Afghanistan, in full harmony with its decisive

revolutionary domestic policy, follows a

principled, peaceful path in its relations with

all countries of the world. Afghanistan is and

will remain a non- aligned nation. We will

profoundly and actively support the principles of

positive and active non- alignment, peaceful

coexistence, the policy of detente and general

disarmament. And we will fight against

warmongers, against old and neocolonialism,

against imperialism and Zionism, against fascism

and racism, against racial discrimination and

together with the peace-loving forces in a vast

global front."