Office of the Historian

518. Telegram From the Ambassador to Pakistan (Oehlert) to President Johnson1

Rawalpindi, October 25, 1968, 0811Z.

500. 1. President Ayub’s personal intervention in the Peshawar matter and his instructions to his Foreign Office to work out a time extension along the general lines of our request evidences his desire to accommodate our wishes in such matters to the extent he deems possible and to improve relationships between the two countries.

2. A breakthrough on tanks would greatly strengthen our hand and make it possible to us to continue working in the direction of those objectives.

3. Most respectfully but most urgently I request you to give the deepest consideration to the possibility of either:

A.
Sweetening the pot to the extent necessary with Turkey, or
B.
Authorizing a direct sale of tanks either as an exception to the present military supply policy or in connection with a liberalization thereof.

  1. Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Memos to the President, Walt W. Rostow, Vol. 101, October 23–28, 1968. Secret. [text not declassified]↩