Critical Triangle continues.....

Not surprisingly Jinnah would see a Russian hand in Afghan claims—conflating Pakistan’s issues with Afghanistan into the Unites States’ issues with the USSR. In a cabinet meeting on
September 9, 1947 he went on to claim “The safety of the North West Frontier is of world concern and not merely an internal matter for Pakistan alone,” proceeding to see designs into the fact that “Russia alone of all the great countries has not sent a congratulatory message on the birth of Pakistan.”
An ideological opposition to communist atheism was a
natural extension of the ideology of Pakistan. Jinnah said as much
in a 7 September cabinet meeting ruling incompatibility on the
basis of Islam, he chose to link Pakistan with the West on the basis
of democracy claiming “Pakistan is a democracy and communism
does not flourish in the soil of Islam. It is clear therefore that our
interests lie more with the two great democratic countries, namely
the UK and the USA, rather than with Russia,” conflating
religion and political system.

However, in what was to set another template for Pakistan-US
ties, the Government of Pakistan (GoP) evidently expected a massive bailout package of US$2 billion over five years, from the
Americans based merely on statements such as these. Pakistan is
not contiguous to the USSR and as Dennis Kux, a retired US diplomat and historian has pointed out, given that the US was
fixated on Europe at this point such an exorbitant demand was
thoroughly unrealistic at a time when the total volume of
Marshall Plan aid to Europe stood at US$11.5 billion. It is
telling that this assistance was not merely economic assistance but
military as well. When this request was rejected, Pakistani Foreign
Minister Zafarullah Khan opined that the “well known friendship
of Pakistan towards the US and Pakistan’s obvious antipathy to
the Russian ideology would seem to justify serious consideration
by the US Government of the defence requirements of Pakistan,” effectively substituting geography and practicality with ideology.

To be continued..............