Afghan question: a growing commitment to political solution.

Secretary-General javier Perez de Cuellar on 15 February said he saw a growing commitment to a political solution of the Afghan question in his "intensive contacts with all segments of the Afghan population and the Governments concerned".

In a statement on the occasion of the first anniversary of the completion of withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan, Mr. Perez de Cuellar said that an international consensus should be developed to enable the Afghan people to develop their own national consensus. Only then would Afghans be able to exercise their right to self-determination. A comprehensive political solution could be achieved only if all concerned work with "a communality of purpose", he said.

While foreign troop withdrawal had been achieved, the "tragedy of the Afghan people" had not yet ended, Mr. Perez de Cuellar emphasized. Other provisions of the Geneva Accords had not yet been fully implemented. Afghan refugees continued to suffer outside their country, and the Afghan people as a whole continued to be the victims of a war "where military might has produced no victor".

In the Geneva Accords, Afghanistan and Pakistan signed instruments on principles of mutual relations, in particular noninterference and non-intervention; on voluntary return of refugees; and on interrelationships for the settlement, which provided for foreign troop withdrawal. The United States and the USSR, as international guarantors, signed a declaration promising to "refrain from any form of interference or intervention". OSGAP established

The Security Council on 11 january adopted resolution 647 (1990), unanimously extending the mandate of the United Nations Good Offices Mission in Afghanistan and Pakistan (UNGOMAP) for a further period of two months to 15 March. The military component of UNGOMAP, composed of a detachment of 40 military officers from 10 countries, had been assisting in the monitoring of the Accords. Following the termination of the mandate of UNGOMAP on 15 March 1990, the Secretary-General established the Office of the Secretary-General in Afghanistan and Pakistan (OSGAP) so as to continue with his good offices mission, in accordance with the provisions of the Accords and General Assembly resolution (44115). He appointed his Personal Representative, Benon V. Sevan, as head of OSGAP. Mr. Sevan will be assisted by civilian and military personnel. The military officers are detached temporarily from other UN operations and act in their new capacity as military advisers to the Secretary-General's Personal Representative.