Adolph Dubs
| Adolph Dubs | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| United States Ambassador to Afghanistan | |
|
In office June 27, 1978 – February 14, 1979 |
|
| President | Jimmy Carter |
| Preceded by | Theodore L. Eliot, Jr. |
| Succeeded by |
J. Bruce Amstutz (as chargé d'affaires) Robert Finn (as Ambassador, 2002) |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
August 4, 1920 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | February 14, 1979 (aged 58) Kabul, Afghanistan |
| Resting place | Arlington National Cemetery |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | United States of America |
| Service/branch | United States Navy |
| Rank | Lieutenant commander |
| Battles/wars | World War II |
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 murdered during a rescue attempt after his kidnapping.
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.
In 1978, Dubs was appointed United States Ambassador to Afghanistan following the Saur Revolution, an urban coup d'état which brought the Soviet-aligned Khalq faction to power.
On February 14, 1979, on the same day that Muslim extremists first attacked the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran, and just months before the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Dubs was being driven from his residence to the U.S. embassy slightly before 9 a.m. and was approaching the U.S. Cultural Center when four men stopped the ambassador's armored black Chevrolet limousine. Some accounts say that the men were wearing Afghan police uniforms, while others state that only one of the four was wearing a police uniform. The men gestured to the car to open its windows, which were bulletproof, and the ambassador's driver complied. The militants then stuck a pistol in the driver's face and carjacked the vehicle, forcing the driver to take Dubs to the Kabul Hotel, a nearby hotel in downtown Kabul. The abduction occurred "within plain sight of at least one real Afghan policeman." There, Dubs was held in Room 117 on the first floor of the hotel. The driver was sent to the U.S. embassy to tell the Americans of the kidnapping.
...
Wikipedia