Coll 5/62 ‘India-Kabul Route: Question of establishment of an air service between India and Kabul’ [‎14r] (27/677)

and no doubt the mission's own report will show that frpnj this point
of view useful results have been achieved® ' ^ f J47
4. As regards my Counsellor's general observations with which I
am in entire agreement, it is perhaps a pity that the mission could
not have obtained from the External Affairs Department more inform
ation regarding social conditions in Afghanistan and perhaps I am
myself in some measure to blame for not having prepared guidance
notes on these subjects beforehand* Had it been possible to have
given longer notice of the actual composition of the mission, of the
date of its arrival and of the ground it was intended to cover, some
of this confusion might have been avoided* It was certainly a pity
that the mission should by its very composition have raised in
quite such an acute form the communal issues that unhappily dlfide
India today* The Afghans are of course fully aware of the situ
ation but official discussions of the internal difficulties in India
have hitherto been scrupulously avoided* That Afghan officials,
including the Prime Minister, who gave Mr.hahim a two hour interview
before his departure, should have taken full advantage of the
position to discover all that they could about possible future
political developments in India was only to be expected*
5® It is too early to appraise the final results of the mission
but I think that there can be no doubt that its visit will have
served a useful purpose® On his arrival the Director-General of
Civil Aviation Informed me that he had, subject to my approval, been
given specific instructions to make a special effort to return Afghan
hospitality and though I was at first somewhat doubtful of the wisdom
of such a course I was able to ascertain that the Afghan Government,
though not wishing to put the mission to any trouble, were by no
means averse to this suggestion* As a result the mission gave a
very popular and successful garden party at Bagh-i-Babar on May 29th
which was attended by the Prime Minister, Afghan Cabinet Ministers,
Members of the Diplomatic Corps and other guests to the number of
approximately 200* I think that there can be no doubt that the
publicity achieved by this move and by the arrival of the Bristol
Wayfarer plane on two occasions (it returned to India between the
24th and 28th) and the flight which it gave on the 30th to certain
Afghan Cabinet Ministers and other members of the Afghan delegation
have stimulated general interest in civil aviation in Afghanistan
and may make the Afghan Government somewhat less nervous in their
approach to the subject than they have been hitherto* Now that the
ground has been cleared by discussions I hope that it may be possible
for me in due course to ascertain the real opinion of the Afghan
Government on the whole subject and possibly to bring them round
gradually to the view that the advantages of some such service as is
now offered by India might more than outweigh the difficulties with
which they are at present obsessed*
6* I am sending copies of this letter to the Foreign Office and
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. *
I have the honour to be,
Sir,
Your obedient servant,
To
The Secretary,
External Affairs Department,
New Delhi.
HIS MAJESTY'S MINISTER,
Kabul.