by Gary J. Bass
49. For an insightful overview of joint operations in India’s major wars, see Anit Mukherjee, “The Coordination Model of Jointness,” unpublished paper, pp. 21–26. See MEA, WII/109/31/71, vol. I, Gandhi speech in Parliament, 7 December 1971. S. S. Shashi, Defenders of India (New Delhi: Indian School Supply Depot, 1972), p. 148. Singh, Liberation of Bangladesh, p. 70. See Hamoodur Rehman Commission Report, pp. 239–42. See also NMML, Haksar Papers, Subject File 235, Manekshaw-Kulikov talks, 24–25 February 1972; K. P. Candeth, The Western Front: Indo-Pakistan War, 1971 (New Delhi: Allied Publishers, 1984), pp. 157–60; FRUS, WSAG meeting, 6 December 1971, 11:07–11:56 a.m., pp. 656–67.
50. N. Krishnan, No Way but Surrender: An Account of the Indo-Pakistan War in the Bay of Bengal, 1971 (New Delhi: Vikas, 1980), pp. 8–11, 26–27. Ramananda Sengupta, “ ‘Karachi Burned for Seven Days,’ ” Rediff.com, 13 May 2009. Hamoodur Rehman Commission Report, pp. 242–47.
51. NSC Files, Box 572, Indo-Pak War, Farland to Rogers, 8 December 1971, Islamabad 12215. Chopra, India’s Second Liberation, pp. 163–64. Mankekar, Pakistan Cut to Size, pp. 111–13. Krishnan, No Way but Surrender, pp. 39–46. Muhammad Adil Mulki, “Warriors of the Waves,” Express Tribune Sunday Magazine, 27 May 2012. Pakistan did score one major naval success, torpedoing and sinking a frigate, INS Khukri.
52. NSC Files, Box 571, Indo-Pak War, State Department situation report, 6 December 1971. Malcolm W. Browne, “For the West Pakistanis, War Is Closer to Home,” New York Times, 10 December 1971, p. A16. NSC Files, Box 573, Indo-Pak War, Barrow to Rogers, 15 December 1971, Lahore 1606. White House tapes, Oval Office 635-6, 10 December 1971, 9:10–10:31 a.m. See Chuck Yeager and Leo Janos, Yeager: An Autobiography (New York: Bantam, 1985), pp. 311–12.
53. FRUS, WSAG meeting, 6 December 1971, 11:07–11:56 a.m., pp. 656–67. Ramananda Sengupta, “ ‘Karachi Burned for Seven Days,’ ” Rediff.com, 13 May 2009. See NSA, Nixon-Kissinger telcon, 4 December 1971; White House tapes, White House telephone 16-6, 5 December 1971, 7:56–8:03 p.m. Benazir Bhutto, Daughter of the East (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1988), p. 48.
54. NSC Files, Box 572, Indo-Pak War, CIA situation report, 9 December 1971. Hamoodur Rehman Commission Report, pp. 244–47. Palit, Lightning Campaign, pp. 147–49. Mankekar, Pakistan Cut to Size, p. 110. Chopra, India’s Second Liberation, pp. 166–68. Sethi, Decisive War, p. 139. NSC Files, Box 572, Indo-Pak War, CIA situation report, 9 December 1971. See FRUS, WSAG meeting, 4 December 1971, 11:13–11:41 a.m., pp. 620–27. Ramananda Sengupta, “ ‘Karachi Burned for Seven Days,’ ” Rediff.com, 13 May 2009.
55. Chopra, India’s Second Liberation, pp. 127–37.
56. FRUS, WSAG meeting, 6 December 1971, 11:07–11:56 a.m., pp. 656–67. FRUS, NSC meeting, 6 December 1971, 1:30–3:30 p.m., pp. 669–73. FRUS, Kissinger to Nixon, 6 December 1971, pp. 650–51. See NSA, Nixon-Kissinger telcon, 4 December 1971; White House tapes, White House telephone 16-6, 5 December 1971, 7:56–8:03 p.m. FRUS, vol. E-7, White House tapes, White House telephone 16-14, 6 December 1971, 9:19–9:24 a.m.
57. G. S. Bhargava, Their Finest Hour: Saga of India’s December Victory (New Delhi: Vikas, 1972), pp. 35, 89, 73, 89–90.
58. NSC Files, Box 572, Indo-Pak War, Kissinger to Nixon, 7 December 1971. Mankekar, Pakistan Cut to Size, pp. 87–90. Candeth, Western Front, pp. 65–71. NSC Files, Box 571, Indo-Pak War, State Department situation report, 5 December 1971. MEA, WII/109/31/71, vol. I, Gandhi speech in Parliament, 7 December 1971. Jayakar, Indira Gandhi, p. 177.
59. Hamoodur Rehman Commission Report, pp. 213–15. Chopra, India’s Second Liberation, p. 162. Henry Kamm, “Pakistani Forces Take Ghost Town in Kashmir,” New York Times, 13 December 1971, p. A16. Janak Singh, “Chhamb: Scene of Bitterest Fighting,” Times of India, 9 January 1972, p. A4.
60. Palit, Lightning Campaign, pp. 84–85. Bhargava, Finest Hour, pp. 59–64. See Candeth, Western Front, pp. 74–84. Mankekar, Pakistan Cut to Size, p. 99. Sethi, Decisive War, pp. 138–41.
61. “The Toll of Battle,” Times of India, 9 January 1972, p. A4. “Loss of Khukri, Not Leg, Upsets Jawan More,” Times of India, 29 December 1971, p. 6.
62. Jagjit Singh, Indian Gunners at War: The Western Front, 1971 (New Delhi: Lancer International, 1994), pp. 96–102. NSC Files, Box 572, Indo-Pak War, DIA analysis, 8 December 1971. Fox Butterfield, “Battle at Kashmir River Said to Leave 900 Dead,” New York Times, 12 December 1971, p. A26. Janak Singh, “Chhamb: Scene of Bitterest Fighting,” Times of India, 9 January 1972, p. A4.
63. Jayakar, Indira Gandhi, pp. 177, 184–85.
64. MEA, HI/121/13/71, vol. II, Gandhi to Tajuddin Ahmad, 6 December 1971. MEA, WII/109/31/71, vol. II, Gandhi to Tajuddin Ahmad, 6 December 1971. See NMML, Haksar Papers, Subject File 173, Haksar to Gandhi, 6 December 1971; Narayan statement, 6 December 1971, Narayan, Selected Works, p. 694; Narayan to Gandhi, 6 December 1971, Narayan, Selected Works, p. 694; MEA, WII/109/31/71, vol. I, Kaul to Jha, 6 December 1971. MEA, HI/121/13/71, vol. II, Sinai to ambassadors, 12 December 1971. MEA, WII/109/31/71, vol. II, Sinai to ambassadors, 12 December 1971. MEA, WII/109/31/71, vol. I, Singh-Keating discussion, 7 December 1971, 12:15 p.m. MEA, HI/121/13/71, vol. II, Dixit to heads of mission, 4 December 1971. MEA, WII/109/31/71, vol. I, Kaul to Jha, 6 December 1971. MEA, HI/121/25/71, Gandhi statement in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, 6 December 1971. NSC Files, Box 571, Indo-Pak War, Keating to Rogers, 6 December 1971, New Delhi 18770. For Haksar’s argument about international law, see NMML, Haksar Papers, Subject File 173, Haksar to Singh, 11 December 1971; see also Ved P. Nanda, “Self-Determination in International Law,” American Journal of International Law, vol. 66, no. 2 (April 1972), pp. 321–36, and M. K. Nawaz, “Bangla Desh and International Law,” Indian Journal of International Law, vol. 11, no. 2 (April 1971), pp. 251–66. Jefferson wrote of “the choice of the people substantially expressed” in a letter to James Madison in January 1797. But this was not justifying American independence from Britain, but something rather more prosaic: Jefferson’s contest with John Adams to become the new country’s second president, with Jefferson declaring that Adams had won, no matter the technicalities of the vote in Vermont. (Bruce Ackerman and David Fontana, “Thomas Jefferson Counts Himself into the Presidency,” Virginia Law Review, vol. 90 [2004], p. 577.)
65. MEA, HI/121/25/71, Kaul to Singh, 6 December 1971. MEA, WII/109/31/71, vol. I, Singh-Keating discussion, 7 December 1971, 12:15 p.m. NMML, Haksar Papers, Subject File 173, “A note on India’s objectives in the current conflict with Pakistan,” 9 December 1971. Swaran Singh emphasized that India sought neither occupation nor Bangladeshi land: “This is a sort of self-restraint on us in Bangla Desh.” (MEA, WII/109/31/71, vol. I, Singh-Keating discussion, 7 December 1971, 12:15 p.m.) See MEA, WII/109/31/71, vol. I, Singh statement to UN Security Council, 12 December 1971; MEA, HI/121/25/71, Kaul to Singh, 6 December 1971; MEA, WII/109/31/71, vol. II, Iyer to Singh, 22 December 1971. MEA, WII/109/31/71, vol. I, Shukla to Singh, 6 December 1971. MEA, WII/109/31/71, vol. I, Indian government press information bureau, Gandhi speech, 12 December 1971. China accused India of carrying out “the Indian reactionaries long planned criminal aim to annex East Pakistan” (Xinhua, 7 December 1971, in MEA, HI/121/13/71, vol. II, Iyer to Singh, 9 December 1971).
66. White House tapes, Oval Office 617-17, 15 November 1971, 4:31–4:39 p.m.; FRUS, WSAG minutes, 12 November 1971, 11:09 a.m., pp. 509–10; NSA, Nixon-Kissinger telcon, 13 November 1971, 10:38 a.m.; FRUS, WSAG meeting, 22 November 1971, 2:39–3:14 p.m., pp. 529–36; FRUS, vol. E-7, White House tapes, Oval Office 624–21, 24 November 1971, 12:27 p.m.; FRUS, WSAG meeting, 1 December 1971, 4:17–4:50 p.m., pp. 585–90; FRUS, vol. E-7, White House tapes, Oval Office 638-4, 15 December 1971, 8:45– 11:30 a.m. NSA, Nixon-Kissinger telcon, 3 December, 5:55 p.m. NSA, Kissinger-Raza telcon, 3 December 1971, 10:23 a.m. NSA, Kissinger-Raza telcon, 3 December 1971, 11:04 a.m. NSA, Kissinger-Raza telcon, 3 December 1971, 7 p.m. FRUS, vol. E-7, White House tapes, Oval Office 637-3, 12 December 1971, 8:45–9:42 a.m.
67. MEA, WII/109/31/7
1, vol. I, Kaul to Sen, 4 December 1971. NMML, Haksar Papers, Subject File 173, Gandhi to Kosygin (Haksar draft), 10 December 1971. MEA, HI/121/13/71, vol. II, draft Security Council resolution by Argentina, Belgium, Italy, Japan, Nicaragua, Sierra Leone, and Somalia, 5 December 1971. NSC Files, Box 643, Country Files—Middle East, India/Pakistan, Nixon-Kissinger telcon, 4 December 1971, 12:15 p.m. See NSA, Kissinger-Sisco telcon, 4 December 1971, 9:15 a.m.
68. NSC Files, Box 643, Country Files—Middle East, India/Pakistan, Nixon-Kissinger telcon, 4 December 1971, 10:50 a.m. NSA, Nixon-Kissinger telcon, 4 December 1971. MEA, HI/121/13/71, vol. II, U.S. draft Security Council resolution, 4–6 December 1971. See FRUS, WSAG meeting, 4 December 1971, 11:13–11:41 a.m., pp. 620–27; NSC Files, Box 571, Indo-Pak War, draft Bush statement, 4 December 1971; NSC Files, Box 571, Indo-Pak War, Rogers to Bush, 4 December 1971, State 219431. White House tapes, White House telephone 16-48, 8 December 1971, 11:06–11:14 a.m.
69. NSC Files, Box 572, Indo-Pak War, Bush statement to UN Security Council, 5 December 1971. MEA, WII/109/31/71, vol. I, USIS, Bush statement to UN Security Council, 5 December 1971. MEA, HI/121/13/71, vol. II, Bush statement to UN Security Council, 5 December 1971. See Kissinger, White House Years, p. 902. MEA, WII/109/31/71, vol. I, Singh-Keating discussion, 7 December 1971, 12:15 p.m. MEA, WII/109/31/71, vol. II, Kaul-Keating discussion, 6 December 1971, 12:30 p.m. MEA, WII/109/31/71, vol. I, Kaul to Jha, 6 December 1971. See MEA, WII/109/31/71, vol. I, Singh-Keating discussion, 7 December 1971, 12:15 p.m.; NSC Files, Box 572, Indo-Pak War, Keating to Rogers, 7 December 1971, New Delhi 18877. MEA, WII/109/31/71, vol. I, Kaul to Sen, 4 December 1971. See MEA, HI/121/13/71, vol. II, Sen statement to UN Security Council, 4 December 1971; MEA, HI/121/13/71, vol. II, Sen statement to UN Security Council, 5 December 1971. MEA, HI/121/13/71, vol. II, Dixit to heads of mission, 4 December 1971.
70. MEA, HI/121/13/71, vol. II, Kapur note, 13 December 1971. See NMML, Haksar Papers, Subject File 173, Haksar to Gandhi, 15 December 1971. White House tapes, White House telephone 16-48, 8 December 1971, 11:06–11:14 a.m. See NSC Files, Box 572, Indo-Pak War, Bush statement to UN Security Council, 5 December 1971; MEA, HI/121/13/71, vol. II, Bush statement to UN Security Council, 5 December 1971. NSA, Nixon-Bush telcon, 6 December 1971.
71. MEA, HI/121/13/71, vol. II, Krishnan to ambassadors, 13 December 1971. MEA, HI/121/13/71, vol. II, Kapur note, 13 December 1971. White House tapes, White House telephone 16-37, 7 December 1971, 11:31–11:54 p.m. See NSA, Nixon-Kissinger telcon, 5 December 1971; NSC Files, Box 571, Indo-Pak War, Kissinger to Nixon, “South Asia in the Security Council,” n.d. December 1971; MEA, HI/121/13/71, vol. II, Krishnan to ambassadors, 13 December 1971; MEA, WII/109/31/71, vol. I, USIS, Bush statement to UN Security Council, 5 December 1971; MEA, HI/121/13/71, vol. II, Bush statement to UN Security Council, 5 December 1971; MEA, WII/109/31/71, vol. I, Singh-Keating discussion, 7 December 1971, 12:15 p.m. The nonpermanent members of the Security Council were Argentina, Belgium, Burundi, Italy, Japan, Nicaragua, Poland, Sierra Leone, Somalia, and Tunisia. NSA, Nixon-Kissinger telcon, 5 December 1971. MEA, HI/121/13/71, vol. II, Soviet draft Security Council resolution, 4–6 December 1971. MEA, HI/121/13/71, vol. II, Chinese draft Security Council resolution, 4–6 December 1971. MEA, HI/121/13/71, vol. II, draft Security Council resolution by Argentina, Belgium, Italy, Japan, Nicaragua, Sierra Leone, and Somalia, 5 December 1971. See MEA, HI/121/13/71, vol. II, Kapur note, 13 December 1971; MEA, HI/1012/57/71, Shelvankar to Kaul, 30 January 1972. MEA, HI/121/13/71, vol. II, Kapur note, 13 December 1971. MEA, HI/1012/57/71, Shelvankar to Kaul, 30 January 1972. NSC Files, Box 643, Country Files—Middle East, India/Pakistan, Nixon-Kissinger telcon, 4 December 1971, 10:50 a.m.
72. NSA, Kissinger-Vorontsov telcon, 5 December 1971, 4:55 p.m. FRUS, Nixon to Brezhnev, 6 December 1971, pp. 667–68. White House tapes, Oval Office 630-2, 6 December 1971, 12:02–12:06 p.m. See White House tapes, White House telephone 16-30, 6 December 1971, 10:58–11:05 p.m.
73. MEA, HI/121/13/71, vol. II, Kapur note, 13 December 1971. UN Security Council resolution 303, 6 December 1971, at http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/RESOLUTION/GEN/NR0/261/63/IMG/NR026163.pdf?OpenElement. The vote was eleven in favor, with the Soviet Union, Poland, Britain, and France abstaining. MEA, WII/109/31/71, vol. I, Bush second UN Security Council statement, 6 December 1971. Bush made his appeal under the Uniting for Peace resolution, for those times when the Security Council was deadlocked in the face of aggression. White House tapes, White House telephone 16-48, 8 December 1971, 11:06-11:14 a.m. See White House tapes, White House telephone 16-16, 6 December 1971, 9:37–9:42 a.m.; NSC Files, Box 571, Indo-Pak War, Bush to Rogers, 7 December 1971, USUN 4818.
74. UN General Assembly Resolution 2793 (XXVI), 7 December 1971. MEA, HI/121/13/71, vol. II, “Implications of the General Assembly Resolution,” n.d. December 1971. Nicholas J. Wheeler astutely writes that “the overwhelming reaction of the society of states was to affirm Pakistan’s right to sovereignty and the rule of non-intervention.” (Saving Strangers: Humanitarian Intervention in International Order [Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002], pp. 58, 69.)
75. For an Indian critique, see K. P. Misra, The Role of the United Nations in the Indo-Pakistani Conflict, 1971 (New Delhi: Vikas, 1973). MEA, WII/109/31/71, vol. I, Gandhi to heads of state, 5 December 1971. Swaran Singh lobbied friendly governments that the crisis came from “unprovoked aggression by Pakistan against us and suppression of human rights” in Bangladesh (MEA, HI/121/13/71, vol. II, Singh to Indian ambassadors, 7 December 1971; MEA, WII/109/31/71, vol. II, Singh to Indian ambassadors, 7 December 1971). White House tapes, White House telephone 16-37, 16-39, 16-40, 7 December 1971, 11:31–11:54 p.m. MEA, HI/1012/57/71, Shelvankar to Kaul, 30 January 1972. NSC Files, Box 572, Indo-Pak War, Dean to Rogers, 10 December 1971, Hong Kong 8205. India got the votes of the Soviet Union; its two constituent republics with UN votes, Belorussia and Ukraine; Cuba, Bulgaria, Hungary, Mongolia, and Poland; and Bhutan. White House tapes, White House telephone 16-48, 8 December 1971, 11:06–11:14 a.m. MEA, HI/121/13/71, vol. II, Sen to Kaul, 7 December 1971. See NSC Files, Box 572, Indo-Pak War, Bush to Rogers, 8 December 1971, USUN 4843. MEA, HI/121/13/71, vol. II, “Implications of the General Assembly Resolution,” n.d. December 1971.
76. White House tapes, White House telephone 16-37, 16-39, 16-40, 7 December 1971, 11:31–11:54 p.m.
77. White House tapes, White House telephone 16-48, 8 December 1971, 11:06–11:14 a.m.
78. MEA, WII/109/31/71, vol. II, Kaul-Keating discussion, 6 December 1971, 12:30 p.m. NSA, Nixon-Kissinger telcon, 4 December 1971. On Ford, see NSC Files, Box 571, Indo-Pak War, Haig to Saunders, “Talking Points for Gerald Ford,” 29 November 1971. On Agnew, see White House tapes, White House telephone 16-37, 16-39, 16-40, 7 December 1971, 11:31–11:54 p.m. NSC Files, Box 643, Country Files—Middle East, India/Pakistan, Nixon-Kissinger telcon, 4 December 1971, 10:50 a.m.; NSC Files, Box 643, Country Files—Middle East, India/Pakistan, Nixon-Kissinger telcon, 4 December 1971, 12:15 p.m.; NSC Files, Box 643, Country Files—Middle East, India/Pakistan, Scali to Kissinger, 7 December 1971; NSA, Nixon-Kissinger telcon, 4 December 1971; NSA, Nixon-Kissinger telcon, 5 December 1971.
79. FRUS, vol. E-7, White House tapes, Oval Office 635-8, 10 December 1971, 10:51–11:12 a.m. See White House tapes, Oval Office 635-6, 10 December 1971, 9:10–10:31 a.m.
80. FRUS, vol. E-7, White House tapes, Oval Office 637-3, 12 December 1971, 8:45–9:42 a.m. Charles Colson, Nixon’s special counsel—the self-described “chief ass-kicker around the White House,” who would later spend seven months in jail after pleading guilty to obstruction of justice—shrewdly argued that Kennedy would lose because he was suggesting “an interventionist policy.” Colson said, “that’s exactly what people don’t want.” (White House tapes, White House telephone 16-58, 8 December 1971, 3:46– 3:55 p.m.) On Colson, see David Greenberg, “In Remembrance of a Lifelong Political Thug,” The New Republic, 25 April 2012.
81. FRUS, vol. E-7, White House tapes, Oval Off
ice 631-4, 7 December 1971, 3:55–4:29 p.m. See White House tapes, Oval Office 631-2, 7 December 1971, 2:59–3:02 p.m.; White House tapes, Oval Office 631-11, 7 December 1971, 6:28–7:04 p.m. NSA, Nixon-Kissinger telcon, 4 December 1971. See NSA, Nixon-Kissinger telcon, 5 December 1971. NSC Files, Box 572, Indo-Pak War, Kissinger background briefing, 7 December 1971, 4:40 p.m. FRUS, vol. E-7, White House tapes, Oval Office 634-19, 9 December 1971, 5:57–6:34 p.m.
82. MEA, WII/109/31/71, vol. II, “Attitudes in the US Congress,” n.d. December 1971. NSA, Kissinger-Rogers telcon, 3 December 1971, 3:45 p.m. NSA, Nixon-Kissinger telcon, 3 December 1971, 2:45 p.m. NSA, Kissinger-Sisco telcon, 3 December 1971, 3:10 p.m. NSA, Kissinger-Passman telcon, 3 December 1971, 5:05 p.m. NSA, Nixon-Kissinger telcon, 4 December 1971. White House tapes, White House telephone 16-37, 16-39, 16-40, 7 December 1971, 11:31–11:54 p.m. See White House tapes, White House telephone 16-36, 7 December 1971, 6:51–6:55 p.m.; White House tapes, White House telephone 16-58, 8 December 1971, 3:46–3:55 p.m.; FRUS, vol. E-7, White House tapes, Oval Office 630-20, 6 December 1971, 6:14–6:38 p.m.
83. Garry Wills, Nixon Agonistes: The Crisis of the Self-Made Man (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1970), pp. 427–31. FRUS, vol. E-7, White House tapes, Oval Office 634-19, 9 December 1971, 5:57–6:34 p.m. FRUS, vol. E-7, White House tapes, EOB 307-27, 8 December 1971, 4:20–5:01 p.m.
84. MEA, WII/109/31/71, vol. I, Jha to Kaul, 5 December 1971. MEA, WII/ 109/31/71, vol. I, Shukla to Singh, 6 December 1971. MEA, WII/109/31/71, vol. I, Singh-Keating discussion, 7 December 1971, 12:15 p.m. Harris Survey, December 1971. By the end of the war, 23 percent of Americans polled said they sympathized with Pakistan, against 14 percent who leaned toward India, while 27 percent did not sympathize with either side, and 32 percent were not sure. The poll also found that Americans were uneasy about Nixon’s own handling of the war. Just 5 percent thought he performed excellently, with roughly a quarter of respondents each saying that the president had done pretty good, only fair, or poor, or simply not being sure. FRUS, vol. E-7, White House tapes, Oval Office 637-3, 12 December 1971, 8:45– 9:42 a.m. See White House tapes, White House telephone 16-76, 9 December 1971, 7:42–8:10 p.m.; MEA, WII/109/31/71, vol. I, Kaul-Keating discussion, 4 December 1971. White House tapes, Oval Office 636-8, 10 December 1971, 4:18–5:11 p.m. FRUS, vol. E-7, White House tapes, Oval Office 637-3, 12 December 1971, 8:45–9:42 a.m. See White House tapes, Oval Office 635-6, 10 December 1971, 9:10–10:31 a.m. See also Haldeman, Haldeman Diaries, 10 December 1971, p. 382; White House tapes, White House telephone 16-76, 9 December 1971, 7:42–8:10 p.m.; MEA, WII/109/31/71, vol. I, Kaul-Keating discussion, 4 December 1971.