James Bruce Amstutz (July 11, 1928 – March 16, 2021)[1][2] was an American Career Foreign Service Officer who served as Chargé d’Affaires ad interim to Afghanistan from February 1979 until February 1980.
[citation needed] He was Deputy Chief of Mission when Ambassador Adolph "Spike" Dubs was kidnapped and murdered.
[4][5] Amstutz became Chargé and sought out by the head of the Afghan Communist regime, Hafizullah Amin.
In October 1979, Amstutz was going on a six weeks leave and had various concerns including telling Washington that “the Afghan Communists as ‘a bunch of scorpions biting each other to death’” and that Amin had “a semi-psychopathic desire to humiliate and revenge himself against the United States.” So Amstutz recommended a delay by himself and the new Deputy Chief of Mission Archer Blood.
[6] Amstutz was married to Nan Louise Grindle, whom he met while they both attended the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.