6. Telegram From the Embassy in Pakistan to the Department of State 0

1375. Verbatim Text. Re immediately preceding telegram following is text of copy of letter given me by President Ayub:

Begin Text.

Dear Mr. President,

We in Pakistan are very happy on your election and on the excellent choice of your advisers. The wisdom and insight with which you are examining the problems of the world and the conviction with which you are giving expression to your views, give rise to the expectation that the Government of the United States of America will follow firm policies with courage and vigour. This is a heartening change for friends like us of America.

In the under-developed regions of the world today, two major forces are operating. The first is the force of communism with its fixed and unshakeable aim of world conquest and domination through whatever means might be considered effective in any given set of circumstances—subversion, instigation or aggression. the second is the growing feeling of resentment against the colonial powers. Somehow or other, this feeling has come to be crystalized as against The West. Of the Western Powers, their leader, namely, the United States of America is made the special target of antagonism. I may describe this second major force as anti-westernism and anti-Americanism.

The reaction to the spread of communism is different in different countries. In some, as in Pakistan, the government and the people are determined to keep this Godless creed out at all costs. We also fully believe that our destiny lies in friendship with the United States. It is therefore in the supreme interest of the West that this determination should be sustained. It cannot, however, be sustained fully if the attitude and policies in the West itself are calculated to undermine it or even create a sense of doubt in the minds of firm friends.

I have asked my Finance Minister, Mohammed Shoaib, who is visiting Washington in connection with a meeting of the World Bank, to deliver this letter personally to you. In case you would like to discuss the matter I have referred to in this letter, I am sure Mohammed Shoaib would be very happy to elucidate the point further.

With best wishes and very kind regards.

End Text.

Rountree
  1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.90/2-1661. Secret; Presidential Handling.