130. Memorandum From the Deputy Secretary of State (Whitehead) to Secretary of State Shultz1
SUBJECT
- My Ride with Shevardnadze
Shevardnadze’s mood in his remarks to the press at the airport and in the car was upbeat, positive, and hopeful. He said there is lots of work to be done, they want the summit meeting in Moscow to be as successful as the meeting in Washington, and he is prepared to work toward that end.
At the airport press conference he was asked if they will withdraw from Afghanistan if there is no agreement in Geneva. He declined to answer the question specifically, saying they had other options.
Shevardnadze agrees to a one-on-one meeting with you at 5:00 p.m. on Monday. On the buffet dinner and movie Tuesday evening, he said that sounds nice and it is up to us whether to do that. He said that there is lots to talk about, and you and he may want to talk in the evening. He accepts the concept of an announcement of Summit dates immediately after his meeting with the President, if there is agreement on dates.
In an exchange on Central America, he asked if Nicaraguan troops really were inside Honduras. I told him there was no question that they were, and that Ortega had lied on that point. He said if we would both stop supplying arms to Central America, things would be better. I asked whether Cuba would also stop, and he said he could not speak for Cuba, they had their own policy and make up their own minds. I pointed out it would be one-sided if Cuba continued to supply arms, including arms transshipped from the Soviet Union. He said we could talk to the Cubans.
I reported to Shevardnadze that Amb. Dubinin and I had agreed that the priority subjects for the meeting were START, Afghanistan, and Nuclear Testing, to which Dubinin had added the Middle East. I said we looked forward to hearing about his visits with Arab leaders. Shevardnadze acknowledged that he had had substantive visits, and seemed proud that the Soviets have a role to play in the Middle East.
[Page 790]Prior to going to Andrews, I took Amb. and Mrs. Dubinin to the Devils victory over the Capitals at the Capital Center. In the course of our conversation Dubinin said they were signaling us in Geneva that they understand our need for parallelism on Afghanistan. Their notion is that they would continue to supply arms to Afghanistan as they would to any friendly country, and we would continue to supply arms to Pakistan. I asked how arms supplied to Pakistan could find their way to the Mujahedin. He had no answer.
- Source: Department of State, Executive Secretariat, S/S Records, Memoranda of Conversations Pertaining to United States and USSR Relations, 1981–1990, Lot 93D188, 3/88 Washington/Shultz—Shevardnadze. Secret. A stamped notation on the memorandum reads: “Copy for your information.”↩
- Whitehead initialed “JW” above his typed signature.↩