Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952–1954, Africa and South Asia, Volume XI, Part 2

Editorial Note

At its 187th meeting on March 4, 1954, the National Security Council considered and adopted the draft statement of policy contained in NSC 5409, “United States Policy Toward South Asia”, dated February 19, 1954, subject to an amendment set forth in NSC Record of Action No. 1052 (S/S–NSC (Miscellaneous) files, lot 66 D 95, “Record of Actions by the NSC, 1954”). On March 6, President Eisenhower approved NSC 5409 (memorandum by James S. Lay Jr. to the National Security Council, March 8, 1954, S/S–NSC files, lot 63 D 351, NSC 5409—Memoranda). NSC 5409 superseded NSC 98/1, “The Position of the United States with Respect to South Asia”, which had been in effect since January 25, 1951 (for the text of NSC 98/1, see Foreign Relations, 1951, volume VI, Part 2, page 1650). Section D of NSC 5409 dealt specifically with Afghanistan and reaffirmed the determination of the United States to discourage Afghanistan’s Pushtunistan claims. For text of NSC 5409, see page 1089; for text of Section D, see page 1151.