CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T00975A002100220001-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 3, 2002
• Sequence Number: 1
• Content Type: REPORT

Approved For Release 2008/03/03: CIA-RDP79T00975AO02100220001-2
TOP SECRET ~0or
C- Cleo
12 July 1955
opy O0 99
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN
DOCUMENT NO. _ -_--
NO CHANGE IN CLASS.
F' DECLASSIFIED
CLASS. CFIANGED TO: TS S C
NEXT REVIEW DATE: 2D/ .
State Dept. review completed
DATE: _l1~14s_ REVIEWER:
AUTH: HR 70-2
Office of Current Intelligence
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
TOP SECRET
 Approved For Release 2008/03/03: CIA-RDP79T00975A002100220001-2
SUMMARY
SOUTHEAST ASIA
2. Continuing Indonesian crisis causes Sukarno to delay trip abroad
(page 4)
SOUTH ASIA
3. Afghan finance minister comments on Afghan-Soviet transit agree-
ment (page 4).
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 Approved For Release 2008/03/03: CIA-RDP79T00975AO02100220001-2
Approved For Release 2008/03/03: CIA-RDP79T00975AO02100220001-2
 Approved For Release 2008/03/03: CIA-RDP79T00975AO02100220001-2
SOUTHEAST ASIA
Continuing Indonesian crisis causes Sukarno to delay trip abroad-.
resident Sukarno's decision to cancel
ZI lanneu state visits to five Asian
entries and postpone his departure
or Mecca from 12 to 18 July reflects
is growing concern over the continuing army-cabinet crisis.
Presumably he fears that developments in his absence might
bring about the cabinet's fall and cause a further decline in per-
sonal prestige,
Sukarno may hope to effect a compro-
mise by 18 July with Indonesia's seven territorial commanders,
who have been in conference in Djakarta since 9 July. He is also
reported to be in intensive consultation with Prime Minister Ali
and -Vice Prime Minister Arifin.
The chairman of the Masjumi, the chief
opposition party, has stated that the government's failure to solve
the chief-of-staff problem and its increasing loss .of authority
place the country in acute danger. He believes a cabinet appointed
by and responsible to the president might be an acceptable solu-
tion. Vice President Hatta, who is frequently discussed as the
leader of a "presidential cabinet," is reported unwilling to head
such a government because it would have no constitutional basis.
He undoubtedly would accept the responsibility, however, if re-
quested to do so by parliament.
SOUTH ASIA
3. Afghan finance minister comments on Afghan-Soviet transit agree-
men
Afghan finance minister Malik told an
American embassy officer in Kabul on
6 July that the Afghan-Soviet transit
agreement announced on 28 June would
not give e USSR a monopoly of Afghanistan's foreign transit trade.
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He said, however, that if the Pakistani blockade continues, "nearly
all" Afghan goods would be shipped through the USSR.
The finance minister warned that he knew
Pakistani pressure was being exerted in the hope of removing
Prime Minister Daud but stated that the pressure was actually
strengthening Daud's position by causing certain normally dissi-
dent elements to rally around him.
Comment: Malik's remarks seem de-
signed to convince the Unite States that Afghanistan will be lost
to the Western world unless Pakistan is forced to abandon its
economic blockade?
The Pakistani blockade does not vitally
affect the primitive Afghan economy, however, and there is no
need as yet for the Afghan government to resort to extreme meas-
ures. It appears, therefore, that the threat to turn to the USSR
is still being used more as a bargaining point than as a serious
declaration of intent and. that its aim is to help Afghanistan ex-
tricate itself from the dispute with Pakistan with as little damage
as possible.
Kabul's contract with a Swedish firm to
drill for oil near the Soviet border, announced on 28 June, and
Daud's recent personal request for an American construction firm
to begin work on an international airport at Kandahar indicate that
Afghanistan still hopes for Western aid on basic economic projects.
12 July 55 CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN Page 5
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