The Road to Afghanistan - George Washington University

countries, including Iran, Pakistan, China, and the United States. Now its relations with itsneighbors, as well as with Western countries, are ruined. We have begun to think that Aminis deliberately seeking to provoke a confrontation with the United States.”“Your assessment is unreasonable, Mr. Amstutz. Under no circumstances isAfghanistan trying to damage Afghan-American relations,” objected the Soviet ambassador.He again made reference to the recent reception at the American embassy where theAfghan side was represented at a high level at the Independence Day celebration. As todegradation of relations with neighboring countries, Puzanov maintained that it stemmedfrom these countries’ open interference in the internal affairs of the DRA.Each diplomat at this meeting was supposed to play a well-rehearsed role, and bothplayed their roles well. However, toward the end of the conversation, Amstutz decided toimprovise a bit: “Still, I cannot help but notice that the Afghan government has not beencooperating with our embassy as enthusiastically as before. This trend has becomeapparent on a number of issues, for example, the murder of Ambassador Dubs,” saidAmstutz. “Four times we sent a note to the Afghan Foreign Ministry asking them to respondto a number of questions about the weapons that were used by the terrorists, but we neverreceived a response.”“We would like to know that as well,” thought Puzanov, but he only said thefollowing: “The process of improving bilateral relations must be mutual. It is inappropriateto express dissatisfaction with our inability to influence the Afghan side on the issue of theevacuation of American citizens. This is not within our realm. The Afghan leadershipdecides what to do and how to do it on its own.”Amstutz smiled with understanding. The conversation was adjourned.454