Public Law 97–151

Joint Resolution

To authorize and request the President to issue a proclamation designating March 21, 1982, as Afghanistan Day, a day to commemorate the struggle of the people of Afghanistan against the occupation of their country by Soviet forces.

Whereas Afghanistan, more than two years after the Soviet invasion, remains a nation occupied and terrorized by over eighty thousand Soviet troops;

Whereas the continued Soviet occupation of Afghanistan is causing enormous suffering among the people of Afghanistan, as well as the deprivation of their basic right of national sovereignty;

Whereas over two and one-half million people of Afghanistan, constituting more than 15 per centum of the country’s population, have fled the Soviet occupation and are now refugees in Pakistan and other neighboring countries;

Whereas the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan undermines the spirit and intention of the Declaration of Principles of the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, which the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics signed at Helsinki in 1975;

Whereas the puppet regime of Babrak Karmal, installed and maintained by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, has denied the people of Afghanistan their right to self-determination, in violation of the United Nations Charter;

Whereas the undaunted resistance of the Afghan freedom fighters against the Soviet occupational forces is an inspiration to the free world;

Whereas the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution on November 18, 1981, calling for “the immediate withdrawal of the foreign troops from Afghanistan”;

Whereas the people of Afghanistan observe March 21 as the start of each new year and as a symbol of the nation’s rebirth; and

Whereas the European Parliament has declared its intention to commemorate March 21, 1982, as Afghanistan Day: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

Approved March 10, 1982.