Office of the Historian

790D.5 MSP/1–0253

No. 154
The Acting Special Assistant to the Secretary of State for Mutual Security Affairs (Nolting) to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs (Nash)1

top secret
[Washington,] October 2, 1953.2

My Dear Mr. Nash: I refer to the letter forwarded to the Secretary of Defense by the Under Secretary of State September 30 [October 1], 1953,3 which set forth various policy considerations involved in proposed programs of military assistance to the States of the Middle East. Among the matters discussed in that letter was the desirability of an offer by the United States to equip an infantry regiment for Pakistan, provided the Pakistan Government agreed to make such a regiment available for service with the United Nations Command in Korea.

As you know, General Ayoub, the Commander in Chief of the Pakistan Army, is now in the United States. In the course of his discussions with the Secretary and the Under Secretary of State on September 26 and 27,4 he made a strong plea for United States military assistance. He was told that although it was not then possible to state the United States position on this question, we expected to be able to tell him something definite on his return to Washington October 15, following the completion of his tour of United States military installations.

It is therefore necessary to come to a prompt decision on the question of whether the United States shall offer to Pakistan a program of military assistance along the lines proposed by this Department. For the reasons set forth in my letter of October 2, 1953 concerning military assistance for Egypt,5 I think the question of [Page 421] the ultimate source of funds to be utilized in such a program might appropriately be left open for the time being.

I suggest that the problem of assistance to Pakistan should be discussed in the meeting of State, Defense and Foreign Operations Administration representatives which I proposed in my letter of October 2 should be held early in the week beginning October 5.

I am sending a copy of this letter to Mr. Stassen.

Sincerely yours,

Frederick E. Nolting, Jr.
  1. This letter was drafted by Daspit and cleared by NEA, SOA, and S/S.↩
  2. A handwritten note on the source text reads: “Delivered by S/S R 10/3/53, Mr. Byrnes messenger. Defense: Nash; FOA: Stassen; EUR/RA: Mr. Moore.”↩
  3. Not printed.↩
  4. For documentation on the visit of General Ayub, see vol. xi, Part 2, pp. 1162 ff.↩
  5. For documentation on military assistance to Egypt, see Documents 947 ff.↩