US Pres. Nixon and Dr, Kissinger attempted to derail Azad Bangladesh
In a war that saw many Sikh soldiers win awards for valor and even saw several Gurdwaras reopened for the first time since 1947 the leaders of America worked quitely behind the scenes, after being two-faced with the then Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi, to insure that East Pakistan never became Azad Bangladesh.
For stories of Sikhs in the war see:
President Nixon didn't care much for Indira Gandhi and Henry Kissinger had a dim view of Indians and their politicians in particular.
Kissinger and Nixon opposed an independent Bangladesh wishing to keep Pakistan united to check India's seeming tilt towards the Soviet Union. Ex-US President Richard Nixon, the only American President to resign in disgrace, once referred to Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi as, "…the old witch", according to recently released documents from the 1970s.
His national security adviser, Henry Kissinger added, "the Indians are bastards anyway" in the run-up to the India-Pakistan war of 1971. At the time, US politicians saw India as too close to the then Soviet Union. The US state department has declassified many documents this month on US foreign policy of the time. One key conversation transcript came from the meeting between President Nixon and Dr. Kissinger in the White House on 5 November 1971, shortly after a meeting with the visiting Indira Gandhi.
MAY 26 1971
- Kissinger: "They are the most aggressive goddamn people around there…" (speaking of India)
- Nixon: "The Indians?"
- Kissinger: "Yeah"
- Nixon: "Sure"
"We really slobbered over the old witch," said President Nixon.
"The Indians are bastards anyway," said Dr Kissinger. "They are starting a war there."
Here Dr. Kissinger uses the word bitch as well.
- He added: "While she was a bitch, we got what we wanted too. She will not be able to go home and say that the United States didn't give her a warm reception and therefore in despair she's got to go to war."
The Indo-Pakistan war, November and December 1971.
- "The Pakistanis are straightforward and sometimes extremely stupid. The Indians are more devious, sometimes so smart that we fall for their line;" Richard Nixon
The war had its roots in demands in 1970 by East Pakistan, later Bangladesh, for independence. In March 1971, Pakistan's military acted to put down the secessionists there. Millions fled to India's West Bengal state. India supported an independent Bangladesh and its ties with the US plummeted in August 1971 when Delhi signed a treaty with the Soviet Union that included mutual military assistance in case of war.
President Nixon, on the other hand, had developed a "special relationship" with Pakistan's military dictator, General Yahya Khan. In a White House conversation with Dr Kissinger on 4 June 1971, President Nixon berated his ambassador to India, Kenneth Keating, for wanting to, as Mr Kissinger put it, "help India push the Pakistanis out".
President Nixon said: "I don't want him to come in with that kind of jackass thing with me... Keating, like every ambassador who goes over there, goes over there and gets sucked in."
Indira Gandhi seeing the Americans supporting Pakistan had sought stronger links with the Soviet Union.
Mr Kissinger then said: "Those sons-of-bitches, who never have lifted a finger for us, why should we get involved in the morass of East Pakistan? If East Pakistan becomes independent, it is going to become a cesspool. It's going to be 100 million people, they have the lowest standard of living in Asia."
President Nixon replied: "Yeah."
Mr Kissinger: "They're going to become a ripe field for communist infiltration."
President Nixon then openly courted China to try to turn the tide of the war Pakistan's way. With the Indian army and armed Bengali separatists winning, the US on 10 December 1971 urged Beijing to mobilise troops towards India, saying the US would back it if the Soviet Union became involved. China declined and on 16 December the war ended with the Indian army and Bengali separatists taking Dhaka.
Exiled leaders had declared Bangladesh independent on 26 March 1971 and, in 1972, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman returned to become the country's first prime minister. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4633263.stm
