THE SPIES BUMPED INTO EACH OTHER IN AFGHANISTAN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01350R000200550003-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Sequence Number: 3
• Content Type: NEWSPAPER CLIPPING

STATINTL
Approved For Release ?2006/06/19: CIA-RDP88-01350R000200550003-1
2 0 MAR 1972
The spew b iedin o
each other in Afghanistan
By WAUHILLAU LA HAY ?
Scripps-Howard Staff Writer
Kathleen Trautman has lovely red
hair, alluring, green eyes and what she
describes as'a "big flannel mouth."
It's this last feature that is soon to
give. the federal is.;Vetnment's foreign
service establishment fits.
For Mrs. Trautman, until recently a
foreign service wife, has written a book.
It's called "Spies Behind the Pillars,
Bandits at the Pass," and is due on
the bookshelves late this month.
It's based on her life in Afghanistan,
where husband Robert Trautman was
our embassy's U.S. Information Agency
officer.
She found It a great adventure. Travel
to.exotic places. Fascinating new
friends. But also a scene that called for
more than a bit of debunking.
For Instance: One chapter in her bopk,
sure to disconcert our cloak-and-dagger
department, Is titled: "The CIA and oth-
er Disasters."
Of Afghanistan she writes: "Green
grapes and rugs are two of Afghani-
stan's major exports. Her major import,
I suspect, is. spies. There are so many of
them bumping Into each other that at
times it was hard to take them serious-
She reports her husband, now the
White House correspondent for a British
press service agrees. It was his- esti-
mate, she says, that Kabul, AfghanI-
stan's capital, must have been either the
place where old .spies retired or inept
ones were banished.
Nor Is she one to keep silent about,
what too often has been the lot of the
junior foreign service officers and their
wives. She writes:
"People who survive are not out-
spolten. They work for 25 years without
having an opinion said they're on top.
Bright, really terrific young junior offi-
cers - are put to work stamping visas.
fihey.never get to make a decision, so
ktt~Ya25~s'k.aw..'haant~fn`i~cF,d.G.:rn~.U~k$.~i?.2a&
Kathleen Trautman
they give up, resign and go. into private
Kathleen Cale. Trautman Is a native
Kansan. Her husband comes from Wis-
consin. They married just before his Ma-
rine Division went to Korea. Now the
Trautmans have two sons, Max,. soon to
.be 14, and Karl, ]2. Daughter Samantha,
21/, was born shortly after the family
left Afghanistan.
The Trautmans' adventures in Afghan-
istan, with side trips to Russia, Iran,
India and Pakistan, make good reading.
Katie's blasts at the Foreign Service are
written In good humor and, of course,
she has changed names freely.
"Nobody will recognize anybody,"
said Katie. "Unless, of course, they
were there at the time or ran up
against the same people at another
post."
MORI/CDF,
Approved For Release 2006/06/19 CIA-RDP88-01350R000200550003-1