Office of the Historian

130. Memorandum of a Conversation, Washington, July 10, 19571

Washington, July 10, 1957

SUBJECT

  • Afghanistan–Pakistan Relations

PARTICIPANTS

  • Pakistan
    • The Prime Minister
    • Ambassador Mohammed Ali
    • The Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Mr. M.S.A. Baig
    • The Secretary of Economic Affairs, Mr. S.A. Hasnie
    • The Secretary of Defense, Mr. Akhter Husain
    • The Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, Mr. Aftab Khan
  • United States
    • The Secretary
    • Mr. William M. Rountree, NEA
    • Mr. J. Jefferson Jones, III, SOA
    • Ambassador-Designate
    • James M. Langley
    • Mr. John M. Howison, SOA

The Prime Minister declared that he had got on well with the Afghans during his recent visit to Kabul.2 An air agreement between Pakistan and Afghanistan had been achieved expeditiously—in a matter of twelve days, as compared with the 46 days necessary for the conclusion of such a pact between Afghanistan and the USSR.

Mr. Suhrawardy declared that he was trying to get the people of Afghanistan “on our side”. The Russians were also active in Afghanistan. The Prime Minister cited their erection of a silo and their execution of other highly conspicuous projects. It was important that Afghan ties with the free world be maintained, else the Afghans would inevitably be pulled “in the other direction”.

At the conclusion of the Prime Minister’s visit to Kabul the Afghans had promised to tone down their propaganda on the Pushtunistan issue. It was Mr. Suhrawardy’s impression that the [Page 257] Afghans were “not paying their agents so much” as they had formerly been doing in efforts to agitate the frontier.3

  1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 689.90D/7–1057. Confidential. Drafted by Howison. Prime Minister Suhrawardy was in Washington for a 3-day official visit, July 10–12.↩
  2. Ambassador Mills termed the Suhrawardy trip “surprisingly successful.” While noting that sensational results were of course unachievable, he stated the Embassy’s belief that “Suhrawardy discussions and resulting communiqué definite and historic forward step in Pakistan–Afghan relations.” (Telegram 1564 from Kabul, June 11; ibid., 689.90D/6–1157)↩
  3. On July 12, Secretary Dulles again met with Prime Minister Suhrawardy. The memorandum of discussion from that meeting reads:

    “The Secretary observed that the United States had been much pleased with the progress recently made in improving relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Expressing the belief that Prime Minister Suhrawardy was personally largely responsible for this improvement, the Secretary voiced the hope that the favorable trend would continue.” (Memorandum of conversation by Howison; ibid., 689.90D/7–1257)

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