MultilateralThe Afghan decade
The Geneva Accords set the Soviet exit
Pakistan and Afghanistan signed UN-brokered agreements in Geneva, with Washington and Moscow as guarantors; the United States reserved the right to keep arming the resistance.
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Dateline
Geneva
Switzerland
46° 12′ N · 6° 08′ E
Dateline
Geneva
Switzerland
46° 12′ N · 6° 08′ E
Background
UN-sponsored ‘proximity talks’ between Pakistan and the Soviet-backed government in Kabul had been under way since 1982, with Pakistan refusing to deal directly with a government it did not recognise. The breakthrough came from Moscow: the Soviet leadership decided in principle in October 1985 to disengage, and Mikhail Gorbachev publicly announced in February 1988 that Soviet troops would leave1.
What happened
On 14 April 1988 the accords were signed at the UN in Geneva. They consisted of a bilateral agreement between Pakistan and Afghanistan on the principles of mutual relations, in particular non-interference and non-intervention; a declaration on international guarantees signed by the Soviet Union and the United States; a bilateral agreement on the voluntary return of refugees; and an agreement on the interrelationships of the settlement, which set the timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops2,3. All instruments entered into force on 15 May 1988, and a small UN mission, UNGOMAP, was created to monitor them2.
The ‘positive symmetry’ reservation
The text appeared to require an end to aid through Pakistan to the mujahideen once the withdrawal began. Under bipartisan pressure from Congress, the Reagan administration told Moscow it would not accept such an asymmetry while Soviet aid to Kabul continued4,5. Secretary of State George Shultz made a formal statement that the United States retained the right to aid its friends in Afghanistan as long as the Soviet Union aided its own - the principle that became known as ‘positive symmetry’4. Pakistan, which had signed a non-interference pledge, continued to host and supply the resistance.
Perspectives
For Pakistan, Geneva was a diplomatic success that secured the withdrawal it had sought for eight years, but it settled nothing about who would govern Afghanistan; the Kabul government and the mujahideen were left to fight on5. Some in Pakistan, including within the Junejo government, had favoured signing; others, including President Zia, wanted a political settlement first6. For Washington, Geneva achieved the central aim of NSDD-166 without committing the United States to any outcome inside Afghanistan.
Legacy
By leaving the civil war unresolved and arms flowing to both sides, the accords set the stage for the fighting of the 1990s, in which Pakistan’s involvement in Afghanistan would become a growing source of friction with the United States.
Sources
- Afghanistan and the Soviet Withdrawal 1989: 20 Years Later, National Security Archive, 15 February 2009 · Primary document
- Afghanistan/Pakistan – UNGOMAP – Background, United Nations Peacekeeping · Official
- Agreements on the settlement of the situation relating to Afghanistan (A/43/374), United Nations Digital Library, 1988 · Primary document
- America's Responsibility in the Afghan Peace, The Heritage Foundation, 1988 · Scholarly
- Afghanistan: Towards a Political Settlement, Human Rights Watch, 30 August 1991 · Scholarly
- The Geneva Accords, 1987–89 (Afghanistan country study), Library of Congress Country Studies (via countrystudies.us) · Reference
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