Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958–1960, South and Southeast Asia, Volume XV

118. Memorandum From the Under Secretary of State (Herter) to the President¹

Washington, November 8, 1958.

SUBJECT

• Determination under Section 451(a) of the Mutual Security Act of 1954,² as amended, approving use of funds available under Section 103(a) of Chapter I of that Act for Training of Afghan Military Personnel

Pursuant to a request by the Government of Afghanistan, the Embassy in Kabul has recommended an expansion in the fiscal year 1959 program for the training of Afghan military personnel. The proposal calls for the training in the United States of 23 Afghan Army officers and 25 Air Force officers; invitations to 3 senior officers of the Afghanistan Armed Forces to visit the United States; and the establishment of English language training facilities in Afghanistan. The Department of Defense supports this request and estimates the cost to be $845,000. The Department of State endorses this proposal as helpful to immediate United States policy interests in Afghanistan. It is consistent with the course of action set forth in paragraph 77 of NSC 5701³ that the United States encourage Afghanistan to minimize its reliance upon the Communist bloc for military training.

Afghanistan remains a contested field in the cold war. The Soviet bloc considers Afghanistan’s location as strategic and is carrying out a major economic offensive in that country. This effort is designed to increase Soviet influence in Afghanistan as a vehicle for the extension of Communist influence in South Asia. Since 1954 Afghanistan has received loans from the Soviet bloc totaling $158 million, including some $25 to $35 million for arms. As a result, Soviet participation in Afghanistan’s foreign trade, economic development, and military programming and training is becoming increasingly important. The presence of more than 400 Soviet bloc technicians, including personnel to train Afghan military forces, has enhanced the Communist subversion potential. This massive program, augmented by official visits and cultural exchanges, constitutes a threat to Afghanistan’s independence.

The Government of Afghanistan continues to exhibit a desire to balance its close relations with the Soviet bloc through countervailing close relations with the free world. This is reflected not only in the request under consideration but by recent official expressions of Afghan desire for private American capital, increased United States participation in the field of education, additional technical and commodity assistance, and Development Loan Fund loans for private industry in Afghanistan. Since the official visit of Prime Minister Daud in June/July 1958, senior Afghan military personnel in particular have expressed an interest in developing close relations with United States armed forces. It is in the interest of the United States to continue to provide an alternative to Afghanistan’s dependence on the Soviet Union, as noted in paragraph 31 of NSC 5701. During the past two years, pursuant to determinations by you, the Department of Defense has carried out training in the United States involving 41 Afghan army and air force personnel. It is believed that this program has been instrumental in encouraging the Afghan authorities to have confidence in the desirability and practicability of seeking military training assistance in the free world in order to reduce their reliance on the Communist bloc for such training.

It is considered that it would be undesirable and self-defeating to require Afghanistan, as a prerequisite to the extension of U.S. training assistance, to enter into a formal agreement embodying the undertakings specified by Section 142(a) of the Mutual Security Act of 1954, as amended (hereinafter referred to as “the Act”). Afghanistan would probably refuse to enter into such an agreement, and, even if Afghanistan were willing, it would be undesirable to do so, since conclusion of such an agreement would imply upon our part an intent to cooperate militarily with Afghanistan on a far wider scale than is foreseen under the present modest program. In addition, conclusion of such an agreement might provoke new Soviet pressures in Afghanistan of a magnitude which Afghanistan would not be able to counter effectively. It is also considered undesirable to obtain from Afghanistan an agreement required by Section 511(c) of the Act to return to the United States such minor training equipment and materials as may be furnished to Afghanistan when they are no longer required for the purposes for which made available. It is therefore necessary to waive this requirement as well under Section 451(a) of the Act.

It is considered that the furnishing of the proposed assistance and the use of funds available therefor under Section 103(a) of Chapter I of the Act are in furtherance of the purposes of the Act and are important to the security of the United States.

IT IS, ACCORDINGLY, RECOMMENDED that you determine, pursuant to Section 451(a) of the Act, that it is important to the security of the United States that up to $845,000 of funds available under Section 103(a) of Chapter I of the Act be used for the training of Afghan military personnel, without regard to the requirements of Sections 141 and 142(a) of the Act that no military assistance shall be furnished to a nation on a grant basis unless it shall have agreed to the undertakings specified by Section 142(a) of the Act, and without regard to the requirements of Section 511(c) of the Act that arrangements shall be made for the return to the United States of equipment and materials furnished to a nation on a grant basis.

The Secretary of Defense, the Director of the International Cooperation Administration and the Director of the Bureau of the Budget concur in these recommendations.⁴

Christian A. Herter

1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 789.5–MSP/11–858. Secret.
2. The Mutual Security Act of 1958, Public Law 85–477, was enacted on June 30, 1958. (72 Stat. 261)
3. For text of NSC 5701, “U.S. Policy Toward South Asia,” dated January 10, 1957, see Foreign Relations, 1955–1957, vol. VIII, pp. 29–43.
4. President Eisenhower approved this recommendation in a November 13 memorandum to Herter. (Department of State, Central Files, 789.5–MSP/11–1358) The Department informed the Embassy of the President’s decision in telegram 282 to Kabul, November 26. (Ibid., 789.5–MSP/11–2658)