The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project BRUCE A. FLATIN Interviewed by: Charles Stuart Kennedy Initial interview date: January 27, 1993 Copyright 2 14 ADST TABLE OF CONTENTS Background Born and raised in Minnesota niversity of Minnesota (B.A.), Johns Hopkins and Boston niversity (M.A.) .S. Army - (ermany Private industry - Honeywell (Advertising Editor) Entered Foreign Service - 1,5. /a0ul, Afghanistan 1,51-1,5, Political2economic2consular officer Political and social environment .S. interests Department of State - Intelligence and Research - (ermany, 1,5,-1,.1 Austria, and Swiss Affairs Sydney, Australia 1,.1-1,.3 Consular and political officer Political, military, and economic situation .S. interests Berlin, (ermany 1,.7-1,., Pu0lic Safety Section (police and international security) of SBER Allied /ommandatura Berlin 8all Soviets Pro0lems 8est Berlin politics Berlin2Bonn relationship Operations Center 1,.,-1,13 Staffing and operations State2NSC2NMCC2CIA relationship 1 Pro0lems and cases Department of State - Bureau for European Affairs - Central 1,13-1,15 European Affairs Berlin, Austria, Swit:erland, and Liechtenstein National Defense niversity 1,15-1,1. Persian Language Studies /a0ul, Afghanistan 1,11-1,1, Political counselor Prince Da<ud Revolution Soviet influence Murder of Am0assador Du0s Evacuation Soviet incursion Department of State 1,1,-1,8, International Narcotics Matters Director of Office of Refugee Resettlement Board of Examiners Addendum Berlin 1.7-1,.5 INTERVIEW %: Today is January 27, 1993. This is an interview with Bruce A. Flatin and it's being done on behalf of the Association for Diplomatic Studies. I am Charles Stuart Kennedy. Bruce, I wonder if you could give me a bit about your bac-ground. /hen were you born. /here you grew up, and a little about your early education, and maybe about your family. FLATIN: I was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1,30. I attended the niversity of Minnesota where I got a BachelorAs degree in history as a major, and political science as a minor. I did further graduate studies at Johns Hopkins, and I got an MA degree su0seBuently from Boston niversity, in international relations. My wife is from St. PaulC we have four children and seven grandchildren. D: /hen did you get that latter degree. 2 FLATIN: 1,.1. D: /hen you were growing up in Minnesota did anything attract you towards the Foreign Service. FLATIN: Ees, I had a professor at the niversity of Minnesota who called me in one day to ask me whether I knew a0out the Foreign Service. Like most people in the Middle 8est, I had not heard much a0out it. He explained what the Foreign Service was, and discussed ways in which I could prepare myself for the exam, such as different types of courses I should take. I really owe him much credit for steering me toward this career goal. D: Did you get involved in the military. FLATIN: Ees, I was drafted into the Army during the /orean 8ar and I served in (ermany. D: Did that help to whet your appetite. FLATIN: Ees, in a way it did. Having studied (erman at the niversity ena0led me to go to (ermany. I was in a com0at unit that was going to go to /orea, but I was sent to (ermany instead because I had passed a test as a (erman interpreter-translator. Of course, that had a lot to do with my entry into the Foreign Service too. I took the (erman exam at the time. 8e then had to pass language exams, if you recall. The service time in (ermany also interested me in serving overseas. Indeed, later we did serve a five-and-a- half-year tour in Berlin. (I also served on the (erman-language desk in the Department, dealing with (ermany, Austria, Swit:erland, and Liechtenstein.) %: /hen did you ta-e the Foreign Service e1am. FLATIN: In 1,55, after I finished my service in the Army. I was at Honeywell working as an advertising editor and had just gotten married to /ay. I took the Foreign Service exam and passed it. And I delayed entry initially because I liked my jo0 at Honeywell, which is a big and interesting firm. But the BEF followed up with a convincing letter urging further action on my part. %: B23 is the Board of E1aminers. FLATIN: ThatAs right. Around Christmas of 1,55 I decided to take the oral, and was invited to meet the board in 1,5.. %: 4ou had ta-en that three5and5a5half5day e1am. FLATIN: This was only a one-day exam by that time, 0ut still hard. 3 %: Oh, yes, yes. So you came in in early '78. FLATIN: Novem0er of 1,5.. %: Did you have a training class. FLATIN: Ees, I was in the A-100 course that was completed in Fe0ruary of 1,51. My first post was /a0ul as junior political officer. %: I wonder if you could tell me a little about the people in this Foreign Service group. Did you get a feel for what they were, where they were from. FLATIN: It was a small class. It consisted of only a0out 20 personsC of that num0er I think only a third are still in the Service. They were people from different parts of the country and different types of academic pursuits. Almost every0ody was a veteran at that time of some service or another. %: 4our first post was Kabul. FLATIN: Ees. %: Afghanistan. This doesn't sound li-e something one would just as- for. FLATIN: No, as a matter of fact it was a surprise. But we were very happy we did go there. It proved to be the real Foreign Service you had in mind when you joined the Foreign Service in every way. It still smacked of /ipling, John Masters, and the old North 8est Frontier. 8e enjoyed our tour there very, very much. %: /hat was the situation, political and economic, in Afghanistan. FLATIN: Afghanistan was then called the HHermit /ingdomH because it discouraged easy entry. It was hard to get a visa for Afghanistan in those days. The royal family apparently was coming to terms with the fact that they had to moderni:e the country, but how to do it was a real pro0lem. In those days, /ing Iahir did not give the impression of ruling as much as Prince Mohammed DaAud, his first cousin and brother-in-law, who was the Prime Minister. DaAudAs brother, Prince Mohammed NaAim, was the Foreign MinisterC the two of them were first cousins of the /ing. DaAud appeared committed to moderni:ation, but only at the careful pace that he felt was suita0le for the country. This was not fast enough for some eager young Afghan activists who wanted Buicker changes--particularly those who had been trained a0road. Incidentally, at that time Afghanistan looked like it was at a stage earlier than the time of Christ in the Holy Land. In fact in Afghanistan today you can still go to villages that show no sign whatsoever of being even in this millennium. There are no electric lines, telephone lines, water pumps, or anything modern. People are dressed exactly as they 4 dressed back in the days of the Persian Empire. This society presented Buite an inertia for moderni:ers to overcome. 8e served in Afghanistan from 1,51 to 1,5,. After we left, DaAud was eventually displaced by the /ing who then seemed to take a more direct role in the political and economic events of the country. Political life became more stimulated and active. Then DaAud himself came back as head of a group that overthrew the /ing in 1,13 and created a Repu0lic. This occurred while the /ing was seeking medical treatment in Rome (where he still lives in exile). %: Let's stic- to the time we're tal-ing about. This is 1977 to 1979. /hat were you doing there. FLATIN: I was a junior political officer, rotating as an FSO-8. I also served for a time in the economic section, and for a time in the administrative section. And, for that matter, I also handled consular matters from time to time when the Consul was sick or away. %: /hat would a political, even an economic officer do. 4ou say it was a BC time, before Christ type situation. FLATIN: At that time our relationship with Afghanistan had become affected by the Cold 8ar, vis-a-vis Russia. In 1,55, Bulganov and /hrushchev had visited Afghanistan and had extended a 100-million-dollar line of credit to the Afghans. By the time I got there we were going into phases of increasing competition with the Russians in the economic development of the country. The private .S. sector had already been engaged through the efforts of an American firm, Morrison-/nudsen, which had won commercial contracts after 8orld 8ar II to build roads. They later constructed damsC since the Afghan government had exhausted its money building the dams, SAID was asked to assist with irrigation and hydroelectric projects. Therefore, our first AID programs grew out of commercial projects that Morrison-/nudsen had started in the country. Afghanistan came to be regarded as a sensitive East-8est confrontation point between the Soviet nion and America. Pakistan was then, as you recall, very recently independent and there was a bilateral pro0lem between Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Pushtunistan issue. Because of our friendly relationship with Pakistan, our attitude towards this issue was carefully o0served by both sides. Afghanistan was also in a position of confrontation with its neigh0or on the other side, Iran, over the division of the waters of the River Helmand that flow out of Afghanistan into Iran.