After 1971 war, US thought India will capture PoK: CIA

New Delhi: The US government had thought that the then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi might order an attack on West Pakistan to capture Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) after India’s operation to create Bangladesh got over, recently declassified CIA documents say, according to news agency reports.

According to the CIA reports and minutes of high-level meetings in Washington on Indo-Pak tensions, it was clear that the US government was readying a strategy should India smash the Army power of then West Pakistan.

The then US President Richard Nixon’s National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger discussed various possibilities due to deteriorating Indo-Pak ties in the wake of India's military offensive in East Pakistan. However, some top security officials in Washington felt the possibility of India launching a strike on West Pakistan was remote.

At one of the meetings, the then CIA Director Richard Holmes said, “It is reported that prior to terminating the present hostilities, Gandhi intends to attempt to eliminate Pakistan’s armour and air force capabilities,” as per papers, part of nearly 12 million documents CIA declassified last week.

Though Nixon had warned India to cut off economic aid in case of war in East Pakistan, US was clueless on how to implement it.