The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

didn’t participate in any major economic projects. It is quite possible that they reallyacknowledged that Afghanistan was a sphere of vital Soviet interests. Perhaps it wassomething else. Daoud was leaning too openly on the Soviet Union for support at that time.During those years, information began to emerge suggesting that the CIA had establishedclose contacts with leaders of the radical Islamic opposition who had escaped into Pakistan.Ambassador Eliot kept a professional distance despite a generally friendly rapportwith Ambassador Puzanov. He invested a great deal of effort in preparing Daoud’s officialstate visit to the United States, which was to occur in May of 1978. Summing up the eventsof 1977 in one of his telegraphs, Eliot wrote to Washington: “American-Afghan relationsduring this period were wonderful. President Daoud supported the positions of the UnitedStates in regards to Guam and Puerto Rico at the United Nations. He accepted an invitationto go to the United States on a state visit. We doubled our contribution to the educationalprogram for Afghan officers. The Afghan leadership recently confirmed that it would likeAmerican aid to be more visible to counter the domineering Soviet influence.”On April 24, 1978, one day before the PDPA leaders were arrested, Eliot, whosetenure in Afghanistan had already expired, paid a final visit to Daoud. Later, contacts closeto the Afghan president informed the Soviets that this “passionate supporter of détente”recommended that the Afghan ruler apply the most severe measures to the PDPA leaderswho threatened the security of the existing regime. In exchange, he promised aconsiderable expansion of cooperation with the United States. It was difficult to determinewhether the ambassador was speaking for himself or for the State Department.Finally, right before his departure from Kabul, Eliot recommended that the StateDepartment formulate its attitude toward Taraki’s government as soon as possible. “We223