IOR/L/PS/12/513

This file mainly consists of weekly telegrams from the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf and His Majesty's Minister at Kabul respectively, reporting on the trend of public opinion in the Persian Gulf (specifically Bahrain, Koweit [Kuwait], and Muscat) and Afghanistan regarding the Second World War, as requested by the Ministry of Information.

The Political Resident's reports are mainly addressed to the Secretary of State for India, with copies circulated to the Foreign Office; the Minister's reports are principally addressed to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, with copies forwarded to the India Office.

The reports comment on the effect on public opinion of particular events and developments in the war (e.g. the fall of Paris in 1940, and the fall of Rome in 1944). Also discussed are the following: the impact of British, German, and Italian broadcasts; fears of Russian aggression among the official classes in Afghanistan; the British Broadcasting Corporation's (BBC) approach to reporting British naval losses early on in the war; the extent of anti-British feeling among the various classes in Bahrain; the Italian bombing of Bahrain in October 1940; food shortages in the Persian Gulf.

There are no reports from Kabul dating from after September 1940. The reports from the Political Resident continue until April 1945, but they become more and more brief from 1941 onwards, and during the final three years of the war consist of no more than a couple of lines.

Other notable correspondents besides the Political Resident and the Minister in Kabul include representatives of the British Broadcasting Corporation and officials of the Ministry of Information, the India Office, and the Government of India.

The file includes three dividers which give the subject number, the year the subject file was opened, the subject heading, and a list of correspondence references by year. These are placed at the back of the correspondence (folios 2-4).