Coll 5/62 ‘India-Kabul Route: Question of establishment of an air service between India and Kabul’ [‎16r] (31/677)

states eat and prosssdsd to qosstion Kail bull ah khan so as to
obtain soas aora apeolila and Informativa rapllas from him*
Ha was not vary claar in his raplias but avaatuall/ had to
eoaa out quit a frankly with tha information that tha Afghan
Gov a m* ant would not aaaaot if so*a on a offarad tha* at that
vary *o*ant a ahaqua for 30 y 000 y 000 far thair aarodrouas
atc. y baaausa thflQr vara datanainad not to anbark on Civil
Aviation until th^r vara assurad of tha naeassaxy finances
rsquirad for thair other Davalopaant schemas* Xha rost of tha
soaond day vas spent in discussing various aspects of tha
question of tha restricted loan for Civil Aviation and tha
general loan for tha deveiopaent of Afghanistan* Nail bull ah
khan pronised to obtain information fro* his Govemuent
regarding tha broad terns of the tvo loans and added that
nothing mould please Afghanistan sore than if the Government
of India or the eoamerelal interests in India came forward
and provided the bigger loan* Xha smaller loan vas no use to ’
them until tha bigger loan vas assurad*
6* On tha third day tha same subject vas discussed
throughout the day and by then it appeared to me that tha
*ns vara really beginning to feel that tha opportunity
afforded by the discussions vas quite likely to lead to soma
useful results as far as thair desire for securing tha big
loan vas concerned* They vara therefore more forthcoming
and Najlbullah khan offarad to call the next day to tha
meetins tha Minister af national Saanomy to inform tha Mission
regarding more detailed terms of tha loan that Afghanistan vaa
negotiating with the United States of Aneriea* for this
purpose the meeting on tha 87th vas fixed in tha afternoon*
As the Minister of Xetionel hconomy had aakad ma to soa him
at 3-30 F*M« on tha 27th I informad tho Chairman of the
mooting that 1 mould not be able to act as a Liaison officer
on tha 87th*
namsera or me Mission vora
m ate*, which the Afghan
i* Hef therefore f apologised
id h# end 1 both vent to the
6* On the 87th 1 vent to see Hie Excellency Abdul Majid
Khan and ha had Juat startad to apaak to ma about tha purpose
for which he had called me when the telephone rang* Be spoke
to soma on# and then told me that Xajlbullah khan had requester
him t© coma to tha matting as tha Members of the Mlasion wore
anxious to know details of tha loan ate*
Government had under consideration,
for abruptly ending our masting and
Air Conference. At the Conference Abdul Majid khan shoved
eoples of various schemas prepared by tha Afghan Government
for improvement of thair Judlclazy 9 Legislative business.
Education* Industries! ate* ete* 9 end said that for ell those
purposes the Afghan Government would require nearly 230 eroros
of rupees Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf. * Re vent into details of how the Afghan Government
proposed to repay this loan, talked at length about the
proposed linking fund they intended to ereatet the courses
from which this fund would be fad end other details of a
similar nature* He vaa questioned for nearly tvo hours by
Mr* Xsphahanl and Mr* Dslmia about various conditions and
terms of Interest etc* appertaining to the loan* At this
masting Mr* Isphahanl again brought up tha question of Civil
Aviation mad emphasised tha Importance of m*lag a modest
start for tha development of Afghanistan and tha possibility
of Afghan Government obtaining a loan of a few crore Equivalent to ten million, or one hundred lakhs. Used especially in connection with money (rupees). * of
rupees Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf. as against tha biggar loan uhleh vaa being discussed*
Abdul Majid khan informed tha mooting that it vaa absolutely
out of tbe question for the Afghan Government to look at the
Civil Aviation proposals until they had obtained their main
loan* They mere a poor country and vara quite content to
travel by less ooaforteble and leas rapid means than an
aeroplane until thair country vas in a position to afford the
luxury of Civil Aviation* Tha Conference! therefor#! ended
with a feeling that it vaa no use pursuing the subject any
further* It vas 9 however, agreed that they should meet the
next day for final good-bye and dissuasion of any points
that night have escaped notice in the previous discussions*