Adolph Dubs

This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (February 2011)

Adolph "Spike" Dubs (August 4, 1920 - February 14, 1979) was the United States Ambassador to Afghanistan from May 13, 1978 until his death in 1979. He was killed in an exchange of fire after a kidnapping attempt.

Career

Dubs was born in Chicago, Illinois and graduated from Beloit College in 1942 with a degree in political science. He served in the United States Navy during World War II. Later, he completed graduate studies at Georgetown University and foreign service studies at Harvard University and Washington University in St. Louis.

He subsequently entered the United States Foreign Service as a career diplomat, and his postings included Germany, Liberia, Canada, Yugoslavia, and the Soviet Union. He became a noted Soviet expert, and in 1973-74 he served as ranking charge d'affaires at the United States Embassy in Moscow.^[1]

Kidnapping and death

In 1978 Dubs was appointed U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan following a coup d'etat which brought the Soviet-aligned Khalq faction to power. On February 14, 1979, he was kidnapped by four armed militants belonging to the Setami Milli party posing as police. The kidnappers demanded the release of Badruddin Bahes, the imprisoned leader of their party. The government of Hafizullah Amin denied holding Bahes, and refused categorically to negotiate with the militants, in spite of the US embassy's demands.^[2] Dubs was held in Room 117 of the Kabul Hotel (now called Kabul Serena Hotel). Afghan security forces and Russian advisers swarmed the hallway and surrounding rooftops, but negotiations stalled. Shortly after 12:30 p.m., an exchange of gunfire started between the terrorists and the Afghan security forces, and the ambassador was killed.^[3] Afterwards the U.S. government formally expressed to Moscow its disapproval of the assault by the security forces.

Ambassador Dubs was not replaced by the US government and the embassy was finally closed in 1989 as security in Kabul deteriorated.^[4] The position of US ambassador in Afghanistan was not filled until 2002.

The death of ambassador Dubs is currently considered a "Significant Terrorist Incident" by the US State Department.^[5]

Documents released from the Soviet KGB archives by Vasily Mitrokhin in the 1990s showed that the Afghan government clearly authorized the assault despite forceful demands for peaceful negotiations by the U.S., and that the KGB adviser on scene, Sergei Batrukihn, may have recommended the assault, as well as the execution of a kidnapper before U.S. experts could interrogate him.^[6] Other questions remain unanswered.

Dubs is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. He is memorialized by the American Foreign Service Association with a plaque in the Truman Building in Washington, D.C.,^[7] and by a memorial in Kabul.

Camp Dubs, named after Adolph Dubs, is a US camp in Darulaman in southwest Kabul.

References

1. ^ state.gov
2. ^ Harrison, Selig; Cordovez, Diego (1995). Out of Afghanistan: The Inside Story of the Soviet withdrawal. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 34–35. ISBN 0-19-506294-9. 
3. ^ state.gov
4. ^ state.gov
5. ^ state.gov
6. ^ PDF wilsoncenter.org
7. ^ American Foreign Service Association

External links

Biography portal

• Adolph Dubs, Lieutenant Commander, United States Navy, Foreign Service Officer at unofficial Arlington National Cemetery website, written by Bruce Byers, USIS Press Attaché in Afghanistan under Dubs
• The Last Ambassador to Afghanistan, Beloit College magazine, 2002
• Death Behind a Keyhole: Protests over a perverse tragedy in Afghanistan - TIME
• Adolph Dubs nndb.com