Date: 1921-04-28
Source: ru:PSS/v52

To the Enlightened Ruler and Steadfast
Founder and Guardian of the Independence of the Exalted State of Afghanistan



His Majesty the Emir of Afghanistan
Amanullah Khan



The Government of the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic expresses to You its



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* R.N. – a conditional railway address: district head of communications. Ed.



318 APPENDICES



gratitude for Your personal letters and sincere and friendly exalted thoughts on the relations between the two great states—Afghanistan and Russia.


I am happy to inform You that the friendly Treaty between both states was signed in Moscow on February 28, 1921, by the authorized representatives of both states and ratified by the supreme body of the Russian Soviet Republic—the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the Council of Workers', Peasants', and Red Army Deputies469.


The Treaty between both states formally established the friendship and mutual sympathies that have been developing and strengthening between Afghanistan and Russia for the past two years, for which much effort has been made by the representative of the Exalted Afghan State in Russia, the highly respected Mohammed Wali Khan, and the extraordinary and plenipotentiary representative of the RSFSR in Kabul, Yakov Zakharovich Surits.


The Russian Soviet government and the Exalted Afghan State share common interests in the East; both states value their independence and wish to see each other and all the peoples of the East independent and free. The two states are not only brought closer by the above-mentioned circumstances but, in particular, by the fact that there are no issues between Afghanistan and Russia that could cause disagreements and cast even a shadow over the Russo-Afghan friendship. The old imperialist Russia has disappeared forever, and the northern neighbor of the Exalted Afghan State is the new Soviet Russia, which has extended the hand of friendship and brotherhood to all the peoples of the East and, first and foremost, to the Afghan people.


The Exalted Afghan State was one of the first states whose representatives we welcomed with joy in Moscow, and we are happy to note that the first treaty of friendship concluded by the Afghan people was with Russia.


We are confident that our most sincere desire will be realized and that Russia will forever remain the first


STATE PUBLISHING HOUSE. APRIL 28, 1921 319


friend of the Exalted Afghan State for the benefit of both peoples.


The RSFSR government has taken measures to eliminate minor misunderstandings between Afghan officials and Russian local authorities, and, according to our information, relations at the local level have been normalized in accordance with the spirit of friendship existing between the two Exalted States.


The thoughts mentioned by Your Majesty in the last letter concerning mutual sympathy for the liberation of the peoples of the East have been received by us with great sympathy and joy. We have treated them with the seriousness befitting the high thoughts expressed in them. We have instructed our extraordinary representative, Surits, to personally explain our thoughts to You.


The RSFSR government wishes to note the most praiseworthy contributions of Your extraordinary ambassador, Mohammed Wali Khan, to the strengthening of friendship between the two states and the conclusion of the friendly Treaty.


Convinced of the further strengthening of the bonds of friendship between Russia and Afghanistan, allow me to express to You my sympathies and confidence that the independence of the Exalted Afghan State will not be undermined by either force or cunning.


Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars V. Ulyanov (Lenin)


Written in April, after the 20th, 1921


First published in 1960 in the book "Documents of the Foreign Policy of the USSR." Moscow, Vol. IV


Printed from the typescript signed by V. I. Lenin