348. Telegram From the Department of State to the Embassy in Pakistan1
2376. You may deliver to Foreign Minister Qadir following note in response his request for statement on US policy on aggression against Pakistan by any country. Note follows closely as possible Qadir’s own draft of which he handed copy to Under Secretary Henderson.2 Department welcomes Qadir’s assurance GOP will not make this note public (Karachi’s 2171).3 Department authorizes delivery only on understanding will not be released by GOP even though we do not consider note as classified document.
Begin Text: The Ambassador of the United States of America presents his compliments to His Excellency the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan and has the honor to refer to two statements of policy, one released by the Government of Pakistan, the other by the Government of the United States, which were the subject of earlier mention by His Excellency the Minister of Foreign Affairs to the Ambassador.
The first of these statements was that issued in November 1957 in Washington by Mr. Firoz Khan Noon, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Commonwealth Relations of the Government of Pakistan following a conversation between Mr. Noon and the Secretary of State of the United States of America, as follows:4
“I had a full and satisfactory discussion with Secretary of State Dulles with respect to various matters of mutual concern. Among other things I raised with Secretary Dulles the question of assistance which Pakistan could expect from the United States in the event it was the subject of armed aggression. Secretary Dulles referred to the relations of the United States to Pakistan under the Southeast Asia Mutual Defense Treaty, the Joint Resolution on the Middle East and the association of the United States pursuant thereto with the Middle East Baghdad Pact countries, and the obligations of members of the United Nations. He left me in no doubt but that the United States would [Page 709] promptly and effectively come to the assistance of Pakistan if it were subjected to armed aggression which, however, the United States did not anticipate.”
The second of the statements under reference was part of a longer public statement on the subject of the Baghdad Pact issued on November 29, 1956 by the Department of State of the United States of America, which announced, inter alia, that:5
“The United States reaffirms its support for the collective efforts of these (the Baghdad Pact) nations to maintain their independence. A threat to the territorial integrity or political independence of the members would be viewed by the United States with the utmost gravity.”
The Ambassador has been instructed by his Government to inform His Excellency the Minister of Foreign Affairs that the position of the United States remains unchanged from that set forth in the two statements quoted above. End Text.6
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.00/3–2459. Confidential. Drafted in SOA by Robert W. Adams on April 2; cleared by Rountree in NEA, Loftus Becker in L, and Loy Henderson in IO; and approved by Under Secretary Murphy. Also sent to Tehran, Ankara, and London and repeated to New Delhi and Kabul.↩
- Qadir handed Henderson this note during a meeting at his office in Karachi on January 28. (Telegram 2155 from Ankara, January 29; ibid., 780.5/1–2959)↩
- In telegram 2171, March 24, Langley reported that Qadir called on him that day to inquire as to the status of the proposed statement by the United States on U.S. policy regarding aggression by any country. (Ibid., 611.00/3–2459)↩
- See Foreign Relations, 1955–1957, vol. VIII, p. 159, footnote 3.↩
- For text of this statement, see Department of State Bulletin, December 10, 1956, p.918.↩
- On April 15, this note was delivered to Ayub. In a covering letter, Langley stated that it was the understanding of the U.S. Government that Pakistan would not make the contents of the note public. Ayub accepted the note with thanks but made no other comment. (Telegram 2328 from Karachi, April 16; Department of State, Central Files, 611.90D/4–1659)↩