IOR/L/PS/12/2194

Correspondence regarding a request by the Government of Afghanistan to import a sample teargas gun, canisters and accessories to Kabul, via India. The file concerns arrangements for the purchase and delivery of the sample, plus British and Indian concerns over the potential import or manufacture of non-lethal and lethal chemical weapons by the Afghan Government, and the corresponding readiness of the Government of India to meet such a threat.

The file contains letters received by the Foreign Office from the Afghan Legation in London, plus correspondence between the India Office Political Department, the Government of India Foreign and Political Department, the Foreign Office, and HM Minister at Kabul. (Richard Maconachie). The file also includes reports by Maconachie on meetings held with the Kabul-based merchant Herr Ebner, regarding the Afghan Government's interest in chemical weapons, the possibility of establishing a manufacturing facility in Afghanistan, and the reported intention to use the weapons to suppress any uprising by the Pathan tribe.

The file includes a divider which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the end of the correspondence (folio 2).