Nixon Presidential Materials

Washington, July 17, 1970

THE WHITE HOUSE

WASHINGTON

July 17, 1970

Dear Ken,

I am sorry that I missed you while you were here. It would have been good to talk with you about the decision on military supply policy, and also to have chatted about the general situation.

In making the military supply decision, I thought long and hard about the arguments you have presented so moderately yet forcefully. This is why, in the end, I felt that I could not change our basic policy even though in terms of Pakistan’s needs there was a strong argument for supplying replacement items on a continuing basis. I just did not see, however, how I could avoid providing at least one package of equipment that President YAHYA could point to as a sign of U.S. support at this critical stage in his political effort and as a means of avoiding some rather substantial expense that he would have had to incur in completely equipping units with new weapons.

As the first anniversary of my visit to New Delhi nears, I think again of that as one of the important milestones so far in this Administration.

All the best.

Sincerely,

Honorable Kenneth Keating

American Ambassador

U.S. Embassy

New Delhi