Afghanistan and the Middle East: New Dimensions of ASEAN Security

Abstract

At time when much the regional security concerns the countries the Association Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) were focused on the consolidation power throughout Indochina by the Socialist Republic Vietnam (SRV), ASEAN's western flank began demanding urgent attention, first because the Soviet thrust into Afghanistan in the closing days December 1979, and then because the eruption the Iraqi-Iranian war towards the end the following September. ASEAN leaders, mindful Moscow's backing the Vietnamese 200,000-man military presence in Kampuchea, were quick to extend the line their security concerns to the 90,000-man Soviet force now occupying Afghanistan. On 26 June 1980, the thirteenth ASEAN Foreign Ministers' conference in Kuala Lumpur concluded with communique that made this security extension clear: the situation in Kampuchea and in Afghanistan, the communique said, had a common denominator ? the imposition will on small independent nations by foreign powers through the use force in violation international law. Coming hard on the heels the 23 June 1980 intrusion in force by Vietnamese units deep into Thai territory, the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' communique reflected particular apprehension widening war within, as well as directly adjacent to, the Southeast Asian region. Before and after the Kuala Lumpur meeting, individual ASEAN countries expressed similar themes. For example, amidst angry protests (ultimately banned by the government) by Muslim groups before the Soviet embassy in Djakarta, President Suharto and Vice President Malik early in January 1980, repeatedly condemned the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan, and called for the withdrawal Russian forces. When at one point reporters raised the question Hanoi's recent offer signing non-aggression treaties with individual ASEAN countries the Indonesian Foreign Minister brushed the matter aside. He said that of importance to Indonesia at the moment were