701.90 h 11/6

The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in France ( Herrick )

No. 1839

Sir: The Department acknowledges the receipt of your despatch No. 5671 of November 4, 1925, transmitting the original and a translation of a note addressed to you by the Minister of Afghanistan accompanied by a draft of a proposed treaty between Afghanistan and the United States providing for the establishment of diplomatic and consular relations between the two countries.

It is noted that the Afghan Minister in his communication to you of October 30, 1925 makes reference to conversations of July 15 and October 28, 1925, respectively, with you with regard to this matter. The Department, however, has no record that the substance of these conversations has been embodied in any reports submitted to it by the Embassy and desires therefore that a report be prepared and forwarded at your early convenience.2

There is enclosed herewith for your consideration the text of a reply which, unless you see any objection, you may hand to the Afghan Minister conveying this Government’s appreciation of the friendly sentiments which he has expressed toward this country.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I am [etc.]

Frank B. Kellogg
[Enclosure]

Draft Note From the American Ambassador ( Herrick ) to the Afghan Minister in France and Belgium ( Nadir )3

Excellency: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of Your Excellency’s letter of October 30, 1925 in which you were good enough to indicate your Government’s desire that friendly relations with the Government of the United States might be maintained and that diplomatic and consular relations between the two countries might, within the near future, be established.

I have not failed to communicate these facts to my Government transmitting, at the same time, a copy of the draft treaty which you so kindly furnished me and which, so you stated, you desired to serve as the basis of a Treaty of Friendship to be concluded between our two countries.

I am happy to be able to inform you that I am now in receipt of a communication from my Government with respect to the suggestion contained in your above mentioned communication. I have been [Page 560] instructed to convey to Your Excellency my Government’s deep appreciation of the friendly sentiments which you have been good enough to express toward the United States and to inform you that my Government has been pleased, furthermore, to note the renewed expression of your Government’s desire to establish diplomatic and consular relations between the two countries. Careful consideration will be afforded the draft treaty which you have presented.

I need not assure Your Excellency that my Government recalls with great pleasure the visit to the United States in 1921 of the Afghan Mission headed by His Excellency Mohammed Wali Khan4 on which occasion the President in a communication addressed to His Majesty Amanullah Khan, Emir of Afghanistan, and handed to His Excellency Mohammed Wali Khan, assured His Majesty of his wish that the relations between the United States and Afghanistan might always be of a friendly character and that he would be happy to cooperate with His Majesty to that end.

  1. See footnote 1, p. 557.
  2. A copy of this note was handed to the Afghan Minister on Feb. 20, 1926.
  3. See Foreign Relations, 1921, vol. i, pp. 258262.