How Kissinger wanted to choke India

January 27, 2017 10:00

Barely four months before the start of the 1971 Bangladesh war, documents recently declassified by the Central Intelligence Agency show how US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger wanted to choke India.

At a Washington Special Actions Group meeting held at the White House situation room on August 17, 1971, documents show, Kissinger, then US national security adviser, asked if the Indians will attack, and CIA chief Richard Helms tells him, "My personal feeling is that they will not do so."

The meeting was called to discuss a contingency paper, of which Option C -- everyone present agrees -- was likely the most suitable strategy for the US.

Later on during the meeting, when Helms remarks that "In that part of the world one still has the problem of passions outrunning good judgement,' Kissinger's disdain for India can be seen from his reply: "Passions don't have to run very far to do that in India."

The meeting even discussed cutting aid to India if hostilities begin.

Here's Kissinger again, with his question: "Can someone study what we mean when we say we are going to cut economic aid (to India)? We should look at the consequences... Can we cut off aid through the consortium?"

When assistant secretary of state Joseph Sisco replies that they will produce a paper on it, Kissinger responds: "We will also be getting talking points for the Soviets and Chinese both before and after an attack. You will let us know what you are doing on this, and we in turn will let you know about anything we are doing here that may affect the situation."

Here's what Claude Arpi wrote on Rediff.com in December 2006 on how the US tried to corner India in the 1971 war.

You can read the full minutes of Kissinger's meeting of August 17, 1971, here.

Photograph alongside shows Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and US President Richard Nixon, talking at the White House, Washington, DC, on November 9, 1971, less than three weeks before the 1971 War began. Photograph: Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images.

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