COMMITTEE: HISTORICAL GENERAL ASSEMBLY, 1993

COUNTRY: REPUBLIC OF BELARUS

AGENDA: SITUATION IN AFGHANISTAN

The Soviet Invasion followed by the war in Afghanistan devastated the country's infrastructure and left
more than 1 million dead. Nearly 5 million refugees fled the fighting, and Afghans are still believed to
represent the single largest refugee group in the world.
1

The Afghan government, having secured a treaty in December 1978 that allowed them to call on Soviet
forces, repeatedly requested the introduction of troops in Afghanistan in the spring and summer of 1979.
The war involved the Soviet Union, supporting the Marxist-Leninist government of the Democratic
Republic of Afghanistan at their own request against the Mujahideen Resistance when on December 27,
1979, 50,000 Soviet troopers dressed in Afghan uniforms, including KGB and GRU special force officers
from the Alpha Group and Zenith Group, occupied major governmental, military and media buildings in
Kabul, including their primary targetthe Tajbeg Presidential Palace.
The mujahedeen found other support from a variety of sources including the Pakistan, United States,
United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, China and other Muslim nations through the context of the Cold
War. The US saw Moscows military intervention as a culmination of its 1970s expansionary course in
the Third World.
2
It was very clear that the bipolar world was breaking into a multipolar one; the two
superpowers were not the only influences that would affect the warfare in Afghanistan.
The war lasted almost ten years before the withdrawal of all forces in 1988-1989, depleting and
demoralizing the Soviets just as Vietnam had drained the United States
3
.
As the war progressed, the rebels improved their organization and tactics and began using imported and
captured weapons, including U.S. Stinger antiaircraft missiles.
4

Although drugs were produced in some Asian republics of the Soviet Union, like Uzbekistan or
Turkmenistan, the mass addiction came to Belarus and other former USSR countries from Afghanistan.
Afghanistan still remains to this day the biggest illicit drug exporter to Europe.
The Russian invasion remains the last war in which Belarus took part in and in which the Belarusian
military involvement was very prominent. According to the number of human losses, Belarus is fourth
after Russia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

1
Afghanistan: Refugees from Afghanistan: The world's largest single refugee group; Amnesty International, 1992
2
The War in Afghanistan. Soviet Edition.
3
Afghanistan and American Policy: Lisa Reynolds Wolfe
4
America's "Long War": The Legacy of the Iraq-Iran and Soviet-Afghan Wars
By Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya

Even after the war, Afghanistan has been in turmoil of authority and power, the nation is still under a
certain type of identity crisis. The tribes are divided and external influences are significant.

In order to improve the situations prevalent in Afghanistan, Belarus recommends the following:
1. Limiting external involvement in Afghanistan and the region in general. Primarily reliance should
be on UN efforts, restricting its own involvement to moral suasion, small amounts of
humanitarian aid, and occasional military strikes against terrorists.
2. Resolving the internal tribal clashes with the help of UN bodies. As current Taliban policies are
inconsistent with Islam and do not serve Afghanistans interests, many local leaders would be
willing to consider alternatives as coming to a general term to all tribes.
3. Reconciling the interests of the regional powers seeking hegemony in Afghanistan is a necessary
pre-condition for long term stability. As long as outside powers seek to control events in
Afghanistan, the flow of arms and money to fighters will continue, and Afghanistan will remain
unstable.
4. Increasing Diplomatic efforts in Pakistan, Iran, China and the International Community as a
whole.