893.24/1497: Telegram
The Minister in Afghanistan ( Engert ) to the Secretary of State
[Received January 23—9:49 a.m.]
13. Referring to Delhi’s telegram5 in reply to your 701, December 10. British Minister had conveyed to me substantially same information in connection with proposed journey of Gordon Bowles. Government of India seems to apprehend unfavorable repercussions on Afghan Government and possibly frontier tribes if it should become known that we were actively investigating possibility of opening routes via Afghanistan. I understand London instructed British Embassy, Washington, to bring these considerations to your attention. Since your January 11,6 I have heard from my British colleague7 that Bowles is to travel via Afghanistan to Persia and back again to India and thence to China. Please confirm.
My dispatch 33, September 16, 1942,6 described circumstances attending expulsion of Axis nationals in 1941. Am sending copy to Delhi. See especially bottom of page 3, part of page 4 and page 10. Please note incidentally that Soviets never gave any assurances re supply routes and that Britain merely promised not to open such routes without cooperation of Afghans.
Should it become necessary to open trans-Afghan routes to Russia or China, I feel it would be up to British and Soviet representatives and me to make sure that Afghan cooperation will be forthcoming.