Geneva Accords (1988) on Afghanistan

Background and Negotiations

The Geneva Talks were a series of twelve rounds of UN-brokered indirect negotiations running from June 1982 to April 1988. Nominally between the governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan, the substantive negotiations took place between the United States and the Soviet Union. Gorbachev, determined to withdraw from what he called a 'bleeding wound,' proposed making Afghanistan a non-aligned state when he met Reagan in Geneva in November 1985.

The Four Instruments

• Bilateral Agreement on Principles of Mutual Relations: Bound Afghanistan and Pakistan to non-interference and non-intervention in each other's internal affairs.
• Declaration on International Guarantees: Signed by the USSR and the USA as guarantors of the non-interference agreement.
• Bilateral Agreement on the Voluntary Return of Refugees: Set terms for the repatriation of approximately 3 million Afghan refugees in Pakistan.
• Agreement on Interrelationships for the Settlement: The comprehensive instrument containing the nine-month Soviet withdrawal timetable (beginning 15 May 1988, completed by 15 February 1989), witnessed by Shevardnadze and Shultz.

Gaps and Failure

The accords' fatal structural flaw was that the mujahideen were neither party nor signatory. They rejected the accords and continued fighting. Pakistani President Zia-ul-Haq called them 'nothing more than a fig leaf,' while the United States reneged on a December 1985 understanding to halt arms supplies to the mujahideen after the Soviet withdrawal was complete. Gorbachev felt betrayed but pressed ahead with withdrawal regardless. The accords provided the procedural framework for the Soviet exit but did not end the Afghan civil war. The Najibullah regime survived until 1992, when the mujahideen overran Kabul after the Soviet collapse cut off its remaining support.