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Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 23 Feb 1988

Vol. 378 No. 3

Written Answers. - Soviet Withdrawal from Afghanistan.

36.

asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will make a statement on the announcement by General Secretary Gorbachev of the Soviet Union, of a withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Ireland welcomes Mr. Gorbachev's pledge of 8 February 1988 to withdraw Soviet troops for Afghanistan over a ten month period beginning on 15 May if an agreement is reached by 15 March at the talks between the Afghan regime and Pakistan in Geneva. The rapid withdrawal of Soviet troops according to an irrevocable timetable remains an important precondition if this long conflict is to be brought to an end. The European Council at its meeting from 4 to 5 December 1987 called on the Soviet Union to withdraw all its troops by a date in 1988 according to a fixed timetable.

Ireland supports the persistent efforts of the UN Secretary-General and his personal representative to find a negotiated solution which would put an end to the tragic human suffering and the continuing violations of human rights in Afghanistan, allow the refugees to return and restore Afghanistan as a genuinely independent and non-aligned country.

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