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 which respects the internal affairs of member states. Surprisingly, India sided with the Soviets with a speech by Brajesh Mishra on 11 January when he acknowledged that the Soviets provided the assistance that both President Amin and his successor requested, and furthermore, that the Soviets would leave Afghanistan at the request of the Afghanistan government. Pakistan, who had been taking in refugees at its border with Afghanistan, took at 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 the recent armed intervention in Afghanistan… appeals 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 calls 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.
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