President Donald Trump’s stand in supporting Pakistan and his administration’s hostility towards India, after Operation Sindoor, may have come as a surprise to many casual observers but Washington’s policies in the sub-continent have always been designed to contain India, historical documents show.
While this report, based on a recently published, peer-reviewed paper holds the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) responsible for inciting the 1962 war between India and China, many other actions during pre- and post-1971 also demonstrate constant efforts by the US to undermine India.
When Kao Flagged U.S. Position
An official correspondence between RN Kao, the founder of India’s external intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), and then Indian Army Chief Gen (later Field Marshal) Sam Manekshaw in June 1972, reveals how the U.S. was determined to help a defeated Pakistan to maintain an ‘equilibrium’ in Asia. The top secret note from Kao to Manekshaw gives a detailed assessment of the US intentions. Kao’s note was in response to a missive shared by Gen Manekshaw based on information sent by India’s Military Attache in Washington.
As Kao writes: “U.S.A. wants a strong Pakistan as a counterbalance against India to the extent possible and as a source of stability, particularly in the Persian Gulf area.” The American policy (Richard Nixon was the President) was based on the new reality in the sub-continent in 1972. “It is the official US position that even before the December 1971 war, the military balance shifted decisively toward India between 1966 and 1971…they concede that India has emerged from this crisis as the dominant power in South Asia.”
Distinct Pakistan Tilt Of U.S.
In this context, Kao writes to Manekshaw: “Both China and the U.S.A. support Pakistan’s stand on Kashmir. Both are interested in keeping the issue alive as a means of pressure on India and as a bone of contention between India and Pakistan which ensures that the two countries remain at loggerheads.”
The final paragraph of the note, available in the Prime Minister’s Museum and Library (PMML) in New Delhi, could have been written in 2025. It reads: “This is not to say that either the U.S.A. or China is reconciled to India’s success… this period would be full of dangers to us. The U.S.A. would now seek to create a new balance in the region.
The main lines of this policy insofar as these can be discerned are as follows: a) military and economic aid to Pakistan with a view to restoring political and economic stability and rebuilding Pakistan as a strong military power; b) large-scale economic aid to Bangladesh to reduce Indian and Soviet influence; c) efforts to strengthen US influence in the smaller countries—Nepal, Bhutan, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Bangladesh and Pakistan—as an antidote to India; d) efforts to increase separatist moves in India and to encourage dissatisfied minorities with a view to weakening India and reduce Soviet influence and e) increased U.S. naval presence to maintain a balance of military power.”
CIA’s Bngladesh Mission
In October 1972, PN Banerjee, then Joint Director of R&AW based in Calcutta (and one of the closest friends of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman), in a note to Kao, confirmed the prevailing suspicion about the CIA. The top secret note read, in parts: “Sheikh Mujibur Rahman repeatedly mentioned about the growing CIA activities in Bangladesh. He said that he had already alerted his Special Branch as well as the Director of External Intelligence Mr Monen Khan alias Mihir, who keeps discreet vigilance on CIA operators in Bangladesh and reports to him from time to time. He also solicited our assistance in curbing CIA activities in Bangladesh.”
The CIA was not only infiltrating and financing anti-Mujib parties but were also ‘assiduously cultivating’ some of the high officials of the Bangladesh govt, Banerjee’s note added. The R&AW’s point person in Bangladesh, quoted the head of Bangladeshi External Intelligence, DIG Khan alias Mihir saying among the CIA contacts were Ruhul Kuddus, Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Mujib, Taslimuddin Ahmed, Home Secretary, Ibrahim, Director General, Security, Nurul Islam and Rahman Shobhan of the Planning Commission. Clearly, the Americans had managed to reach the inner circle of Shiekh Mujib within a year of the liberation of Bangladesh, during which the U.S. was supporting the Pakistan army openly.
The current anti-India sentiment currently sweeping among hotheads and radicals in Bangladesh should therefore not surprise anyone going by what happened even half a century ago. History is repeating itself in India’s neighbourhood, maybe in a more virulent form, thanks to the continuing hostility of the Americans.
Nitin A. Gokhale is a media entrepreneur, one of South Asia's leading strategic affairs analyst and author of over a dozen books so far on military history, insurgencies and wars.
Starting his career in journalism in 1983, he has since led teams of journalists across media platforms.
A specialist in conflict coverage, Gokhale has covered the insurgencies in India’s North-East, the 1999 Kargil conflict and Sri Lanka’s Eelam War IV between 2006-2009.
Gokhale now travels across the globe to speak at seminars and conferences, and lecture at India’s premier defence colleges. He has founded three niche portals, Bharatshakti.in, stratnewsglobal.com and Interstellar.news.
