Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976, Volume XI, South Asia Crisis, 1971
Document 190
190. Memorandum of Conversation
1
Washington
,
November 17, 1971
.
SUBJECT
Indo-Pakistan Situation
PARTICIPANTS
The Secretary
Ambassador
Dobrynin
Peter B. Johnson, Special Assistant to the Secretary
Ambassador
Dobrynin
was called in today to meet with the Secretary.
Dobrynin
departs on November 19 for Moscow where he will attend a Central Committee Plenum and then take a two or three-week vacation. He expects to be back in Washington toward the end of December. A summary of the discussion on November 17 follows:
The Secretary opened the discussion with the India–Pakistan issue. He pointed out that Ambassador
Beam
had already talked with Soviet officials reporting on talks here with Mrs.
Gandhi
and the Pak Foreign Secretary. The Secretary summarized those talks and emphasized that the
U.S.
had urged that maximum restraint should be exercised on both sides. We had told the Paks that we could not decide for them what the settlement should be but that it was important to get a dialogue started looking toward a political settlement. The Paks have indicated a willingness to talk with representatives of the Bangla Desh presently in Calcutta and President
Yahya
has told us that he would consider discussion with a Bangla Desh representative acceptable to
Mujibur Rahman
.
Dobrynin
asked about the Indian reaction to our suggestions and if a Bangla Desh representative had been designated. The Secretary said Mrs.
Gandhi
had appeared rather negative toward the prospects of such discussions. However we had stressed the vital importance of starting discussions looking toward a political settlement. Although a representative had not been designated by the Bangla Desh, we believed that President
Yahya
would be interested in such a procedure and that Mrs.
Gandhi
should support it.

The Secretary said we had suggested troop withdrawals from the frontier in the discussions with Prime Minister
Gandhi
and that President
Yahya
had indicated a willingness to withdraw troops unilaterally on the understanding that India would reciprocate by subsequent withdrawal. We would not evaluate the merits of any withdrawal plan but discussions could well begin on the subject between the parties. The Secretary said that the Indians did not seem to view the idea with favor but he could not see what more the Paks could offer to do. He added that the
U.S.
Government considers President
Yahya
ʼs agreement to consider talking with a Bangla Desh representative a major concession.
Dobrynin
said he had not known about this.
The Secretary characterized Soviet arms shipments to India as “not helpful.”
2
Dobrynin
said he would check out the size of the shipments but believed them to be small. He said, as often happens in these cases, there is more propaganda than reality to the reports of the size of the deliveries.
The Secretary stressed our mutuality of interests in having peace in the subcontinent.
Dobrynin
agreed that both countries would profit from a political settlement and neither would gain from an outbreak of war in the area.
Dobrynin
agreed that there were essentially no contradictions in our respective positions.
Contents
Preface
Sources
Abbreviations