Coll 7/5 'Afghanistan: purchase of arms etc. from foreign sources: Germany' [‎166r] (331/1035)

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The file contains correspondence regarding the purchase of weapons and ammunition by the Afghan Government from Germany and other sources. It includes correspondence between Afghan Officials -- the Foreign Minister, the Legations to Paris and London, and the Consulate of Afghanistan in India -- and British Officials, including the India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Political Department, HM Minister Kabul (Richard Maconachie), the Foreign Office, the War Office, and HM Ambassador to Berlin (Neville Henderson).

The file opens with correspondence regarding the alleged purchase in 1931 of arms from Germany, in violation of Article 170 of the Treaty of Versailles. It is determined that the arms in question originated in Poland, with funding from the German Government. Later correspondence documents the British decision not to protest against such treaty violations, in light of the obligation on Britain to not interfere with the supply of arms to Afghanistan as agreed in the Anglo-Afghan Treaty (1921).

Arrangements for the purchase, licensing and transport of arms to Afghanistan from Czechoslovakia, Germany, Japan, Spain, the USA, France and Belgium are documented in the file. The principal firms involved in these arrangements are: Škoda Works; Rheinmetall-Borsig AG; Dynamit-Actien-Gesellschaft (vormals Alfred Nobel); and Messrs Vickers-Armstrongs Limited. A number of additional firms are mentioned but not named. The file also contains communications received from the Government of India Central Board of Revenue and the Collector of Customs at Karachi, reporting on the arrival and examination of shipments, the validity of export licences, and the payment of customs dues.

The file includes dividers which give lists of correspondence references contained in the file by year. These are placed at the end of the correspondence (folios 2-4).

Extent and format

1 file (517 folios)

Arrangement

The papers are arranged in rough chronological order from the rear to the front of the file.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the inside front cover with 1 and terminates at the last folio with 517; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located at the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio.

Written in

English and French in Latin script

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