Office of the Historian

341. Memorandum From the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Brzezinski) to Secretary of State Muskie1

Washington, December 18, 1980

The President has read an intelligence report reflecting Soviet concern over passage of the anti-Soviet Afghan resolution at the UN.2 The Soviets are anxious lest they lose non-aligned support over the Afghan issue. The intelligence community has initiated planning to make Afghanistan a major issue at the February 9–12, 1981, Non-Aligned Nations Foreign Ministers’ Conference in New Delhi and suggests that it is not too early to energize the entire U.S. foreign policy establishment toward the goal of defeating the Soviets in New Delhi. The President noted, “I agree.”3 (S)

Zbigniew Brzezinski
  1. Source: Department of State, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, Intelligence Liaison Files, TIN 980643000012, Box 6, Afghanistan 1980. Secret.↩
  2. A likely reference to an article in the National Intelligence Daily that summarized a report [text not declassified] December 2, which noted that the Soviets sought to “vitiate” the resolution adopted on Afghanistan in the UN General Assembly. (Central Intelligence Agency, Office of the Director of Central Intelligence, Job 81B00401R: Subject Files of the Presidential Briefing Coordinator for DCI (1977–81), Box 7, Afghanistan Crisis—December 1980, NIDs) For UNGA Resolution 35/37, see footnote 3, Document 337.↩
  3. At the bottom of the memorandum, an unknown hand wrote: “CIA/DDO wanted to do something through the CA infrastructure, but NEA (Coon) was unenthusiastic, and nothing more was done.” The notation is dated February 9, 1981.↩