Critical Triangle continues...

Foreign Minister Zafarullah Khan and Secretary General of the Pakistan Government Chaudhri Mohammad Ali in a meeting with Assistant Secretary of State McGhee argued that the US position of equidistance was untenable and would lead to “interminable discussions with no chance of solving the basic problem.” Curiously this was paraphrasing the exact same views that the Indian Government held about Pakistan over Kashmir at the time. They tried to nudge the US to accept the Durand Line formally as the official border. Again in January 1951, Chaudhri Mohammed Ali said the talks with Afghanistan would fail if the US failed to recognise the Durand Line. McGhee and Acheson were convinced of the validity of the US position arguing that Pakistan “may be amenable to initiating talks on the basis we have suggested,” and firmly told Zafarullah Khan a month later “my views remain unchanged.”McGhee again tried in March 1951 to restart talks but failed.

His motivations were clear, “This Pashtunistan problem, as all others must be considered in light of the expansionist policy of the Soviet Russia, which had no hesitancy in taking advantage of the power vacuums in Asia as well as in Europe.”

Essentially, Pakistan was insisting here that US equidistance was the root of the problem, and if the US came down decisively on their side the issue would evaporate. In many ways this demonstrates the contradictions of Pakistani policy since it ignored their own assessment that Indians and governance deficit were behind the problem, and, at the same time, seemed oblivious to US security concerns regarding Afghanistan and the Soviets. At any rate, McGhee was proven wrong and the Pakistanis remained as intransigent on the Durand Line as the US had perceived Nehru to be on Kashmir. Admiral Chester Nimitz had after all, around the same time, resigned as plebiscite administrator for Kashmir, and had commented to acting Secretary of State David Bruce, “no mediation effort in Kashmir is going to succeed as long as Mr Nehru maintains his present unstatesmanlike attitude”

To be continued.......