The Export-Import Bank of the United States lends $18,500,000 to Afghanistan to help buy the U.S. material, equipment, and services for the Helmand river valley development project.

The Pakistani government orders the release of Abdul Ghaffar Khan, the 63-year-old leader of the Red Shirts (Khudai Khidmatgars), who had been detained at Rawalpindi since June 1948, on a charge of championing the cause of Pashtunistan, i.e., the establishment within the northwest frontiers of Pakistan of a Pashtu-speaking province united with Afghanistan.

About 45 other persons detained for the same reason are set free, but Abdul Ghaffar Khan is to reside in Punjab.

Its leader, Ali Ahmad Popal, Deputy Minister of Education, says that the military pact between the U.S. and Pakistan will bring war nearer to Afghan frontiers.

Another loan of $2,100,000 is granted for buying industrial equipment in the U.S.S.R. Mohammad Naim Khan, the Afghan foreign minister, visits Karachi.