CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T00975A001500240001-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 3, 2003
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: April 8, 1954
• Content Type: REPORT

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8 April 1954
Copy o? 176
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN
DOCUMENT NO.4--
NO CHANGE IN CLASS.
I . ' DECLASSIFIED
{CLI S3, CHANGED TO: TS S C
NLT REVIEW DATE:
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t A. i E:ls'.7.9 UEVIEWER:
Office of Current Intelligence
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
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DOS review(s) completed.
0~ DIA review(s) completed.
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SUMMARY
GENERAL
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2. USSR . reportedly urges Afghanistan to accept military aid (page . 25X1
3.
4.
6. Crisis at Dien Bien Phu may be past (page
7.
NEAR EAST .a AFRICA
8. Saudi Arabia may press ARAMCO to relinquish Trucial oil rights
(page 7).
WESTERN EUROPE
9. Italy may exploit deteriorating Trieste situation (page 7).
10. British rumored preparing to pull out of Trieste (page 8).
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GENERAL
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2. USSR reportedly urges Afghanistan to accept military aid.-
and has pressed the Afghan government to accept Soviet technical and
military aid, according to the UN. technical assistance mission repre-
sentative. Naim added that he had delayed replying to the Soviet am-
bassador, but felt that the time for stalling was running out.
Comment. The Soviet Union had previously
pressed Afghanistan to accept economic and technical aid, but this is
the first report of a Russian offer of military assistance. Up to now the
USSR has not granted military aid to any non-Orbit country. This offer,
if it has in fact been made, would suggest that Moscow is especially con-
cerned over the possibility of Afghanistan's participation in military
planning under Western aegis.
Foreign Minister Naim has stated that the
Soviet ambassador has called on him. "prac-
tically every other day" since the announce-
ment of the Turkish-Pakistani agreement
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Afghanistan has indicated that it would like
to join the Turkish-Pakistani defense pact, or a similar arrangement,
if its Pushtoonistan dispute with Pakistan were settled. It is unlikely
that Afghanistan will accept Soviet military aid as long as it has any
hope of Western support.
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3.
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6. Crisis at Dien Bien Phu may be past.
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not have the short-range capability of taking Dien Bien Phu. However,
several days of bad weather preventing supply drops would again make
the French position dangerous.
crisis now appears past. The French estimate that the Viet Minh does
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The attache says that the inability of the
French air force to neutralize Viet Minh field and antiaircraft artillery,
whose location and effectiveness remain of primary importance to the
situation, is difficult to understand. So long as enemy fire denies use
of the airstrips, the French will have to rely on airdrops, and' the rota-
tion of troops and evacuation of wounded will remain serious problems.
7.
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According to the American army attache in
Saigon, the French believe that the arrival
of a parachute battalion to reinforce Dien
Bien Phu during the past few days has im-
proved the French defense to a point that the
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NEAR EAST m AFRICA
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8. Saudi Arabia may press ARAMCO to relinquish Trucial oil rights-.
rights in the disputed Trucial, coast area on the Persian Gulf. The
Saudis apparently hope to obtain political sovereighty over most of this
territory in return for transferring the oil rights to the British-controlled
Iraqi Petroleum Company or to the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company.
Ambassador Wadsworth in Jidda reports
that Saudi Arabia may bring pressure to
bear on the Arabian-American Oil Company
(ARAMCO) to relinquish its concessionary
Wadsworth and ARAMCO representatives are
concerned over recent anti-American statements made by King Saud and
other high Saudi officials, as well as over reportedly widespread Saudi
opinion favoring a British. oil concession. ARAMCO has stated that it
will not voluntarily surrender any concessionary rights and has requested
the British oil companies to cease their activities in the disputed area.
Comment: The Saudi Arabian government
has previously indicated to ARAMCO that it wanted to cut down the size
of the concessions. By establishing a rival British concession inside
their frontier, the Saudis hope to achieve larger revenues by playing
the companies off against each other.
WESTERN EUROPE
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9. Italy may exploit deteriorating Trieste situation:
American political adviser Higgs fears
that the deteriorating Italian position in
Trieste may lead the Italian government
to bring pressure on the United States and
Great Britain in an effort to obtain conces-
sions.
Higgs reports that the "Italian cause" in
Trieste has never been so low. He estimates that 90 percent of the
Trieste populace fully approved the resignation of. Italian political
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The American political adviser in Trieste
notes that Commander Winterton of Zone A was unusually preoccupied
and uncommunicative before leaving for London recently. The British
political adviser has been almost totally indifferent of late to Trieste
problems.
Comment: Britain has long wished to
withdraw from Trieste, partly because of the military expense, and
also because of the political abuse heaped on the British element by
the Italians and Yugoslavs. Britain reduced its forces in Austria last
fall with little more than a gesture toward consulting its allies.
Britain's withdrawal would leave the United
States with full responsibility for Zone A affairs and would almost
certainly result in increased Italian pressure for full implementation
of the Anglo-American declaration of 8 October.
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adviser de Castro on 2 April and its implied criticism of Italian
officials. He adds that the Communists, relying on the present
situation, are taking more initiative in agitating among labor groups
and on other matters.
Ambassador Luce reports that a public
campaign in Italy on the Trieste question may be expected in view
of the continuing publicity on De Castro's resignation.
Comment: Any pressure by Italy
would probably be designed to get immediate implementation of the
8 October declaration.
10. British rumored preparing to pull out of T:r?ieste:
Britain has decided for financial reasons
to pull its forces out of Trieste and turn
over its responsibilities there to the United
States, according to rumors current among
British officers and others in Trieste.
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