The Foreign Service Journal, May 2022

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MAY 2022 13 CORRECTION On the map “Afghanistan Evacuation 2021” (March 2022, pp. 30-31), Kosovo and Bahrain should have been identified as landing spot countries. We regret the omissions. As we noted in the March FSJ , we worked hard to compile the data on which countries were involved at various levels in the August 2021 evacuation. To our knowledge, complete information still does not exist authoritatively in any one public place. We appreciate readers’ assis- tance in filling in any inadvertent gaps. You can find an updated map at afsa.org/operation-allies- refuge-fs-view-front-lines. of our deputy chief of mission): “George, you take care of the civilians, and I will take care of the military.” Huyser never mentioned communists when he took me toWashington in his personal plane and then sat in on the very high-level White House meeting in which I repeatedly argued that Khomeini’s people prevented any communist resurgence. Though this meeting was chaired by Brzezinski, President Carter was absent— which could help explain why Carter got things a bit wrong in his diary. President Carter ultimately accepted Khomeini’s pledge in secret letters to Washington that he would be friendly toward the U.S. if the Iranian military were kept from opposing his return to Iran. However, Khomeini’s letters were not shared with us in Tehran, presumably because Carter was reportedly angry with Amb. Sullivan’s outburst of frustration after he repeatedly received diametrically opposing instructions from Brzezinski and Vance, each speaking in the presi- dent’s name. Overall, this underscores the impor- tance of having American diplomats on the ground to provide the accurate infor- mation that their masters in Washington should use in suggesting policies to the president and Congress. n George Lambrakis FSO, retired Paris, France Submit letters to the editor: journal@afsa.org