689.90D/2–951: Telegram
The Ambassador in the United Kingdom ( Gifford ) to the Secretary of State
4349. For Mathews, SOA, from Kennedy.1 Foreign Office prepared give Pakistan High Commission aide-mémoire re November 6 proposal for Afghan-Pakistan talks. Substance key paragraph follows:
“It is UK belief that the State Department does not question the validity of the Durand line as the international frontier between Afghanistan and Pakistan. They have not made any public statement this subject because they have not regarded US as directly concerned; they consider, however, that their attitude has always been implicitly clear.”
British understand that Department not involved this action and that we are not prepared go any further than in our aide-mémoire of November 28 to Pakistan Ambassador.2 [Kennedy.]
- Donald D. Kennedy, Deputy Director of the Office of South Asian Affairs, met in London February 6 through 10 for discussions with British government officials. For a summary of the discussion concerning Afghanistan-Pakistan relations, see memorandum dated February 14, p. 1653.↩
- For the provisions of this aide-mémoire, which was drafted on November 28 and sent on November 20, see footnote 3, p. 1932.↩