Letter from Mohammad Sabiq, Special Agent in Afghanistan, to Yolbars Khan

Translation of Mohammad Sabiq’s Letter to Chairman Yolbars 

1. The circumstances surrounding the loss of money and passport in Saudi Arabia had been reported in the previous letter and are omitted here.

2. [The circumstances surrounding [my] falling ill for nineteen days after Hajj and efforts to publicize [our cause] and express sympathy [for refugees] have been reported and are omitted here]

3. I had told Mu-han-mo-de-yi-si-la-mi [sic, Mohamed Islami?] that Chairman Yolbars had in the past written to Isa telling him to go to Taiwan and offering him the post of the Chairman of Xinjiang. But Isa said he was not willing to go to Taiwan, but he accepted the money that the government gave him anyway. It is ample proof that Isa is a complete fraud on the outside. You [referring to Islami] are my teacher, so my advice to you is to recognize the circumstances, disassociate yourself from Isa as soon as possible, and support the Nationalist government. Islami said that my [Sabiq’s] words were sincere and honest, and he would definitely do as asked. Islami seems to have already understood that I had been to Taiwan, although he did not say it out loud. He helped me write many letters of introduction to the compatriots in Amman and other cities and urged them to disassociate themselves from Isa at the same time. Later, these compatriots too openly admitted that Isa was a liar, and they also said: Isa advised us not to accept the Han people’s money yet he accepted the government’s money on the sly. Insidiously, he had also caused us to think of Chairman Yolbars as a bad man. I [Sabiq] told them that this was the truth. If they wanted proof that Isa was a liar, I could write a letter to Taiwan anytime to ask for it. The compatriots in Arabia have unanimously expressed their opposition to Isa. Later, when A-ji-a-bu-du-zhu-da-mo-la [sic], a compatriot from Yarkand in Xinjiang who came for the pilgrimage heard what I said, he professed a determination to join me to work in Afghanistan. There are many other compatriots professing the same. I promised that I would help them arrange the papers after I go to Afghanistan to see if the Afghan government would permit them to enter the country.

4. After I arrived in Jordan, I met some compatriots who had been deported by the Arabs. I told them to go with me to Afghanistan and that there was no need to go to Turkey. Secretary Chen from the Embassy in Jordan gave them the same advice.  The Embassies in Arabia and Jordan have been very helpful to us.

5. [The encounter with Nai-mi-ti [sic] and the things discussed have been covered in the previous letter and are omitted in the translation.] After I arrived in Iran, there was a short letter bringing news of fourteen American spies who were executed/tortured [ambiguous]. I wrote a total of two letters to the Chairman. I heard from Ambassador Liu that the Chairman said he had never received my letters. So I wrote this letter and specially got the Ambassador to send this on my behalf. The Chairman’s first question upon receiving the letter has been answered in the previous letter. The fourth question [about the] Free China Relief Association giving me 2,400 US dollars to take with me, I have already changed the money into Afghanis and asked someone to take it back first. When I return to Afghanistan, I will distribute the money after assessing the difficulties of our compatriots and I will send the receipts to Taiwan. I seek the Chairman’s forgiveness for not being able to do this expeditiously

6. I am very grateful to the government for granting the 25,000 US dollars and I am very happy to hear from the Ambassador that someone is coming. My guess is that it will be Brother Daohong. His presence here will be the same as the Chairman being here himself. I welcome the party headquarters sending someone here as Taiwan is our motherland, and the compatriots living in Taiwan will live as they were in our homeland, with no pain and difficulty. But it is not the same case in Afghanistan, because it is impossible to lead a peaceful life in a foreign land, and for a long time, it has been easy to attract the attention of the Afghanistan government and compatriots when doing our work. If we do our work openly, there will be a lot of difficulties in future. I have family in Afghanistan, and thus I have come to understand many things. I hope that whoever is asked to come here can come quickly, because I have been staying in Iran for twenty-five days and the Ambassador wants me to wait for ten more days. I had also thought that it would not be nice to go back empty-handed, thus I can only wait patiently. As for whether other work can be accomplished after returning to Afghanistan, we will know when the time comes. I will definitely do my best in my work and not put the Chairman in a quandary. I will strive to repay the Chairman’s kindness.

Mohammad Sabiq 

June 14, 1969