The Cold War in South Asia - Cambridge University Pressassets.cambridge.org/97811070/08151/frontmatter/...5 Allies of a kind: Britain, the United States and the 1962 Sino-Indian War

The Cold War in South Asia provides the fi rst comprehensive and transnational history of Anglo-American relations with South Asia during a seminal period in the history of the Indian subcontin-ent, between independence in the late 1940s, and the height of the Cold War in the late 1960s. Drawing upon signifi cant new evidence from British, American, Indian and Eastern bloc archives, the book re-examines how and why the Cold War in South Asia evolved in the way that it did, at a time when the national leaderships, geopol-itical outlooks and regional aspirations of India, Pakistan and their superpower suitors were in a state of considerable fl ux. The book probes the factors that encouraged the governments of Britain and the United States to work so closely together in South Asia during the two decades after independence, and suggests what benefi ts, if any, Anglo-American intervention in South Asia’s affairs delivered, and to whom.

PAU L M . MCGA R R is Lecturer in US Foreign Policy in the Department of American and Canadian Studies at the University of Nottingham. He has published widely on aspects of transnational politics, econom-ics, defence, intelligence and security, and post-colonial culture.

The Cold War in South Asia

www.cambridge.org© in this web service Cambridge University Press

Cambridge University Press978-1-107-00815-1 - The Cold War in South Asia: Britain, the United States and the IndianSubcontinent 1945–1965Paul M. McGarrFrontmatterMore information

http://www.cambridge.org/9781107008151http://www.cambridge.orghttp://www.cambridge.org

The Cold War in South Asia Britain, the United States and the Indian Subcontinent 1945–1965

Paul M. McGarr




University Printing House, Cambridge CB2 8BS, United Kingdom

Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York

Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge.

It furthers the University’s mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of education, learning and research at the highest international levels of excellence.

www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781107008151

© Paul M. McGarr 2013

This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.

First published 2013

Printed in the United Kingdom by CPI Group Ltd, Croydon CR0 4YY

A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data McGarr, Paul M., 1969– The Cold War in South Asia : Britain, the United States and the Indian subcontinent, 1945–1965 / Paul M. McGarr. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-107-00815-1 (hardback) 1. South Asia–Foreign relations–20th century. 2. South Asia–Foreign relations–Great Britain. 3. South Asia–Foreign relations–United States. 4. Great Britain–Foreign relations–South Asia. 5. United States–Foreign relations–South Asia. 6. Cold War. 7. India–Foreign relations–20th century. 8. Pakistan–Foreign relations–20th century. I. Title. DS341.M43 2013 327.54009′045–dc23 2013013496

ISBN 978-1-107-00815-1 Hardback

Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.




v

Acknowledgements page vii A note on the political geography of Pakistan ix List of abbreviations x Maps xii

Introduction 1

1 India, Pakistan and the early Cold War, 1947–1956 9

2 Eisenhower, Macmillan and the ‘New Look’ at South Asia, 1957–1960 55

3 The best of friends: Kennedy, Macmillan and Jawaharlal Nehru 89

4 Upsetting the apple cart: India’s ‘liberation’ of Goa 119

5 Allies of a kind: Britain, the United States and the 1962 Sino-Indian War 149

6 Quagmire: the Anglo-American search for a Kashmir settlement 183

7 Realigning India: Western military aid and the threat from the north 216

8 The other transfer of power: Britain, the United States and the Nehru–Shastri transition 244

9 A bumpy ride: Harold Wilson, Lyndon Johnson and South Asia 270

10 Triumph and tragedy: the Rann of Kutch and the 1965 Indo-Pakistani War 301

Contents




Contentsvi

Conclusion: the erosion of Anglo-American infl uence in India and Pakistan 345

Select bibliography 364 Index 379




vii

Acknowledgements

This book is the product of a long-held fascination with contemporary South Asia and its interaction with the wider global community. Over the past decade, I have accumulated many debts in striving to better understand and explain the evolution of India and Pakistan’s role in the Cold War. Much of this work is based on primary research in archives on three different continents, and would have proved impossible to complete without the support of a host of individuals and institutions. Financial support has come from the British Arts and Humanities Research Council; the Mellon Fund; the History Department at Royal Holloway, University of London; the Department of American and Canadian Studies at the University of Nottingham; and the Rothermere American Institute at the University of Oxford. Numerous librarians and archivists in the United Kingdom, the United States and India have extended invaluable help with the identifi cation of research materials.

Without the generous support, wise counsel and unstinting encour-agement of Professor Matthew Jones of the University of Nottingham, this project would not have seen the light of day. It was my extreme good fortune that as a doctoral candidate Matthew agreed to take me under his academic wing. A number of additional scholars have played an important part in bringing this book to fruition. At Royal Holloway, University of London, Tony Stockwell and Sarah Ansari acted as astute and incisive sounding boards on matters South Asian. Colleagues at the University of Hertfordshire, where I held a visiting research fellow-ship, offered sound advice and innumerable moments of good cheer. Likewise, at the University of Warwick, Richard Aldrich, Chris Moran and Simon Willmetts, with whom I had the privilege to work on the AHRC-sponsored research project Landscapes of Secrecy: The Central Intelligence Agency and the Contested Record of US Foreign Policy, 1947–2001 , helped to make this a better book. The Department of American and Canadian Studies at the University of Nottingham is a wonderfully convivial place in which to work on the history of the United States’ foreign policymaking. At Nottingham, I have been privileged to receive




Acknowledgementsviii

the support and encouragement of Graham Thompson, Celeste-Marie Bernier, Sharon Monteith and Judie Newman. Eric Pullin, at Carthage College, proved an invaluable intellectual collaborator.

Another signifi cant debt is owed to the faculty and participants of the 2010 National History Centre International Seminar on Decolonization in Washington, DC. Under the guiding hand of Wm. Roger Louis, and his able assistants, Miriam Cunningham, Dane Kennedy, Philippa Levine, Pillarisetti Sudhir and the incomparable Jason Parker, I was able to develop and refi ne my understanding of the Cold War in the context of post-war decolonisation. Fellow seminarians, and most especially Rob Fletcher, Andrew Cohen, Gerard McCann, Greg Harper, Rachel Leow and Mathilde Von Bulow, helped to make the seminar a truly memo-rable experience. In 2007, an earlier excursion to Washington, on this occasion to take part in the George Washington University/University of Santa Barbara/London School of Economics International Graduate Student Seminar on the Cold War, proved equally important in the evolution of this study. In the United Kingdom, I benefi ted enormously from a research fellowship at the University of Oxford Rothermere American Institute (RAI) in the Michaelmas term of 2011. Under the guidance of the Institute’s Director, Nigel Bowles, the RAI provided an ideal forum in which to hone my research conclusions.

My greatest debt of gratitude remains to my family, who have endured the frequent bouts of distraction and prolonged absences asso-ciated with the completion of this study with exceptional good grace. My three young sons, Robert, William and Oliver, cheerfully came to accept, if not understand, their father’s preoccupation with South Asia, while my wife, Louise, helped to sustain the project with her unstinting support and encouragement. It is to Louise, with much love, that this book is dedicated.




ix

Between August 1947, when Pakistan came into existence as an inde-pendent sovereign state, and 1958, the country’s national capital was the city of Karachi. Situated in the southern province of Sind, on the coast of the Arabian Sea, Karachi was then, and remains today, Pakistan’s largest city, principal port and major fi nancial centre. In 1958, under the direction of Pakistan’s president, General (later Field Marshal) Mohammad Ayub Khan, the national capital was shifted from Karachi to the northern city of Rawalpindi, the headquarters of Pakistan’s armed forces. At the same time, Ayub Khan announced plans to con-struct a new and purpose-built seat of government at Islamabad, adja-cent to Rawalpindi. Several factors lay behind Ayub Khan’s decision to relocate Pakistan’s capital. Chief amongst them was the desire to devolve some of the bureaucratic power and infl uence concentrated in Karachi. A more northerly capital was also considered to be easier to defend, more accessible from all corners of the country and to have the advantage of being closer to the military hierarchy in Rawalpindi, who exerted considerable sway over Pakistani politics. The offi cial transi-tion of Pakistan’s capital from Rawalpindi to Islamabad was completed on 14 August 1967, the twentieth anniversary of the country’s inde-pendence from British rule. In the narrative that follows, Karachi, Rawalpindi and Islamabad are all deployed as synonyms for the gov-ernment of Pakistan during the periods in which they served as the nation’s capital.

A note on the political geography of Pakistan




x

Abbreviations

AID Agency for International Development CAB Cabinet Papers CCP Chinese Communist Party CDS Chief of Defence Staff CENTO Central Treaty Organization Chicom Chinese Communist(s) CIA Central Intelligence Agency CPI Communist Party of India CRO Commonwealth Relations Offi ce DLF Development Loan Fund EEC European Economic Community FO Foreign Offi ce FRUS Foreign Relations of the United States GNP Gross national product GOP Government of Pakistan HMG Her Majesty’s Government IAF Indian Air Force IB Delhi Intelligence Bureau IBRD International Bank for Reconstruction and Development ICA International Cooperation Administration JCS Joint Chiefs of Staff JFKL John F. Kennedy Library JIC British Joint Intelligence Committee LBJL Lyndon Baines Johnson Library LOC Library of Congress MAAG Military Assistance Advisory Group MAP Military assistance programme MEA Ministry of External Affairs MI5 British Security Service MiG Mikoyan i Gurevich (Soviet fi ghter aircraft) MoD Ministry of Defence




List of abbreviations xi

NARA National Archives and Records Administration NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization NEA Bureau of Near Eastern, South Asian and African Affairs,

Department of State NEFA North-East Frontier Agency NMML Nehru Memorial Museum and Library NSAM National Security Action Memoranda NSC National Security Council PLA People’s Liberation Army PLP Parliamentary Labour Party PRC People’s Republic of China PREM Prime Minister’s Offi ce fi les RAF Royal Air Force RCAF Royal Canadian Air Force SAM Surface-to-air missile SEATO South East Asia Treaty Organization SLO Security Liaison Offi cer SOA Offi ce of South Asian Affairs, Department of State UK United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland TNA United Kingdom National Archives UN United Nations UNSC United Nations Security Council US United States of America USAF United States Air Force USIA United States Information Agency USIS United States Information Service USSR Union of Soviet Socialist Republics




0 500 Km

0 500 M

China

Burma

Thailand

Cambodia

Vietnam

Laos

Malayan

Indonesia

Madras

Ceylon

Goa

Bombay

Calcutta

EastPakistan

Dacca

NepalNew Delhi

Karachi

Lahore

IslamabadRawalpindi

USSR

Afghanistan

West Pakistan

India

ArabianSea

Gulf ofOman

AndamanSea

Bay ofBengal

Indian Ocean

Bhutan

Union

Map 1 South Asia post-1947




C H I N A

I N D I A

T I B E T

NE

PA

L

Islamabad

New Delhi

Lines of control

BHUTAN

B U R M A

AFGHANISTAN

750 km

Srinagar

Disputed border

Disputed areas

Aksai Chin,occupied by China in 1962,claimed by India

Area ceded byPakistan to China in 1963,claimed by India

Indo-PakistanCeasefire Line, 1949

JAMMU &KASHMIR

(administered by India)

NEFA,largely

claimed byChina

‘McMahon Line’disputedborder

‘Azad’ Kashmir (administered

by Pakistan)

WEST PAKISTAN

EAST PAKISTAN

DU

RAN

D L

IN

E

Map 2 South Asian territorial disputes, 1947–65




http://www: cambridge: org:

9781107008151:

Documents

The Cold War in South Asia - Cambridge University Pressassets.cambridge.org/97811070/08151/frontmatter/...5 Allies of a kind: Britain, the United States and the 1962 Sino-Indian War