125. Editorial Note
Per the instructions contained in telegram 109665 to London and other posts, April 26, 1980 (See Document 122), the Chemical Weapons Briefing Team briefed their North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies, as well as the Swiss and the Norwegians, in May 1980 about the alleged use of chemical weapons in Afghanistan and Indochina. The team subsequently informed the Department of State that the Europeans believed that the United States had not provided sufficient proof that the Soviet Union and/or it allies had used chemical weapons against civilians. Any investigation, the Europeans argued, should be undertaken either by the United Nations or by a group of Non-Aligned nations whose impartiality could be guaranteed. For more on the Europeans’ misgivings, see telegram 9401 from Bonn, May 19, and telegram 2368 from Stockholm, May 23; National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, D800246–0547 and D800253–0469 respectively.