The situation in Afghanistan
Background
On 3 January 1980, a number of Member States requested an urgent meeting of the Security Council to consider the situation in Afghanistan and its implications for international peace and security. The Council met from 5 to 9 January 1980, and on 9 January decided, in view of the lack of unanimity of its permanent members, to call for an emergency special session of the General Assembly to examine the matter (resolution 462 (1980).
The item was included in the agenda of the thirty-fifth session of the General Assembly, in 1980, at the request of 35 Member States (A/35/144 and Add.1). At that session, the Assembly adopted a resolution on the question (resolution 35/37).
At its thirty-sixth to forty-sixth sessions, the General Assembly continued its consideration of the item (resolutions 36/34, 37/37, 38/29, 39/13, 40/12, 41/33, 42/15, 43/20, 44/15, 45/12 and 46/23).
At its forty-seventh to forty-ninth sessions, the General Assembly decided to defer consideration of the item and to include it in the draft agenda of its subsequent session (decisions 47/475 [page 54], 48/503 and 49/501 [page 40].
At its fiftieth to sixtieth sessions, the General Assembly considered this item in conjunction with the question of emergency international assistance for peace, normalcy and reconstruction of war-stricken Afghanistan (resolutions 50/88, 51/195, 52/211, 53/203, 54/189, 55/174, 56/220, 57/113, 58/27, 59/112 and 60/32).
At its sixty-first session, the General Assembly, expressing strong commitment to the implementation of the Afghanistan Compact and the annexes thereto (S/2006/90, annex), which provided the framework for the partnership between the Government of Afghanistan and the international community, recognizing the urgent need to tackle the challenges in Afghanistan, including terrorist threats, the fight against narcotics, the lack of security, in particular in the south and east, the comprehensive nationwide disbandment of illegal armed groups and the development of Afghan Government institutions, the strengthening of the rule of law, the acceleration of justice sector reform, the promotion of national reconciliation, without prejudice to the fulfilment of the measures introduced by the Security Council in its resolution 1267 (1999) and other relevant resolutions, and an Afghan-led transitional justice process, the safe and orderly return of Afghan refugees and internally displaced persons, the promotion and protection of human rights and the advancement of economic and social development, and expressing strong support for the central and impartial role that the Secretary-General and his Special Representative continued to play in the consolidation of peace and stability in Afghanistan, called upon the Government of Afghanistan, with the assistance of the international community, to continue to ress the threat to the security and stability of Afghanistan posed by the Taliban, Al-Qaida and other extremist groups as well as by criminal violence; stressed the importance of meeting the benchmarks of the Afghanistan Compact, with the support of the international community; underlined the need to finalize the Afghanistan National Development Strategy as soon as possible, and urged the international community actively to support that process; and requested the Secretary-General to report to the Assembly every six months during its sixty-first session on developments in Afghanistan and on the progress made in the implementation of the resolution (resolution 61/18).
