134. Editorial Note
At the 416th meeting of the National Security Council on August 6, Allen Dulles discussed developments in Afghanistan during his survey of significant world developments affecting U.S. security:
“Noting that Afghanistan was included in the South Asia paper, Mr. Dulles said the situation in this country was very difficult from the point of view of preventing Soviet penetration and loss of Afghan independence. He displayed a map showing Soviet and U.S. projects in Afghanistan, the inaccessibility of the country and the road being built by the Soviets toward the Pakistan border. Soviet assistance to Afghanistan in relation to the population, size and resources of the country is quite large. The USSR was providing Afghanistan with $25 million worth of arms, including jet aircraft and light and heavy weapons. In addition Soviet Military Advisers are, for the first time, working in the Afghanistan Defense Ministry disguised as instructors. The Soviets have also provided $260 million in economic aid to Afghanistan, including a $100 million loan. Five hundred Soviet technicians are supervising construction of a new road and the Soviets are also helping to build airports. Afghanistan has insisted that Soviet assistance should be in the form of grants rather than loans. The Soviets have assented, contrary to their usual practice of providing loans instead of grants.
“Secretary Dillon said the Soviet willingness to consent to grants rather than loans indicated the flexibility of the Soviet foreign economic aid campaign. Moreover, in an economic agreement recently concluded with Afghanistan, the Soviets agreed to accept payment in Afghan currency at a very high rate of exchange for transit charges incurred through the shipment of Afghan goods across the USSR. Afghanistan, however, is keeping the door to the West open a little, thereby leaving the U.S. an opportunity to exploit the Afghan interest in education. The U.S. should also attempt to allay the tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan resulting from the Pushtoonistan issue. However, Secretary Dillon felt that the U.S. should not try to match Soviet assistance to Afghanistan dollar for dollar.” (Memorandum of discussion by Marion W. Boggs; Eisenhower Library, Whitman File, NSC Records)
The South Asia paper in question, which was discussed later at this meeting, is NSC 5909, “U.S. Policy Toward South Asia”; see Document 4. NSC 5909 is printed as Document 6.