Foreign Relations of the United States, 1951, Asia and the Pacific, Volume VI, Part 2

6S9.90D/5–2051: Telegram

The Secretary of State to the Embassy in Pakistan ¹

secret
priority

Washington, May 21, 1951—7 p. m.

766. Karachi’s tel 1097 May 20.² Embs Karachi and Kabul instructed provided UK reps have received similar instrs to express serious concern with present inflammatory sit and to request FonOff, as evidence GOP (Afghan) desire for peaceful solution, to adjust troop disposition to that prior May 1, provided GOA (Pak) agrees to simultaneous dispersal its troop concentration in adjoining border areas.

FYI Karachi: GOP note to GOA appears inconsistent with FonMin instrs to GOP Chargé at Kabul to offer (Embtel 1096, May 20)³ withdrawal all GOP forces beyond normal limits of garrison at Chaman. Why did Paks make no ref to Afghan reported willingness (London’s tel 6031, May 19) to withdraw if GOP withdrew their forces from frontier?⁴

Acheson

1. Repeated priority to Kabul as 284 and to London as 5364.
2. Telegram 1097, from Karachi, May 20, not printed, contained the undated text of a note sent by the Pakistani Government to the Afghan Government concerning the situation on their common border. It also contained the recommendation of Ambassador Warren that the Department consult with the United Kingdom and that the United States and United Kingdom direct their representatives in Karachi to ask the Pakistanis, as evidence of their desire for a peaceful solution to an inflammatory situation, to adjust their troop disposition to that prior to May 1, provided the Afghan Government agreed simultaneously to the dispersal of the Kandahar reserve brigade. Similar instructions would be sent to Kabul. (689.90D/5–2051)
3. Telegram 1096, from Karachi, May 20, not printed, reported in part that Zafrulla had instructed the Pakistan Chargé at Kabul to inform the Afghan Government that the Government of Pakistan considered the troop concentration in the Chaman–Kandahar area to be potentially dangerous and offering to withdraw the forces of Pakistan provided Afghanistan would do the same (689.90D/5–2051).
4. Telegram 6031, from London, May 19, not printed, in part related a report to this effect received in the British Foreign Office from the British representative in Karachi (689.90D3/5–1951).