Office of the Historian

39. Memorandum From the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger) to President Nixon1 2

Washington, October 16, 1969

FROM:

  • Henry A. Kissinger

SUBJECT:

  • Proposed PL 480 Loan to Pakistan

AID recommends (Tab A) that you approve a one million ton PL 480 wheat agreement with Pakistan for FY 1970. This is the first major commitment of funds to Pakistan in this fiscal year and the decision is politically significant, so the agencies decided to seek your approval.

The wheat is required to help Pakistan meet its minimum food needs and bring down prices, which are one of the main causes of political unrest in East Pakistan. President Yahya Khan has written you personally (Tab C), emphasizing the urgency of the need and stressing his desire for the proposed program.

State, Agriculture, Treasury, and Budget (Tab B) agree that one million tons of wheat be allocated for shipment to Pakistan, with 800,000 tons to be dispatched now and the last 200,000 tons, if conditions have not improved markedly, by February 1970. An announcement in the next few days would by itself have a helpful effect on prices, which have gone up sharply.

This proposal stands on its economic merits alone. On top of that, it can make an immediate and direct contribution to one of Yahya’s principal political problems—avoiding open unrest in East Pakistan which would complicate the already difficult job of working out a new constitutional agreement between East and West Pakistan.

RECOMMENDATION:

That you approve an FY 1970 PL 480 wheat program of up to one million tons of wheat for Pakistan.

  1. Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 623, Country Files, Middle East, Pakistan, Vol. I, 1 Jan 69–30 Nov 69. Limited Official Use. Sent for action. Attached at Tab A was an October 10 memorandum from John Hannah to Nixon; attached at Tab B was an October 13 memorandum from Mayo to Nixon; neither is published. The October 1 letter from Yahya to Nixon, attached at Tab C, is printed as Document 37. The President initialed his approval of the recommendation on October 22. On November 13 Nixon sent a letter to Yahya indicating that the United States was prepared to negotiate a PL–480 agreement of 1 million tons of wheat for Pakistan. (Ibid., Box 759, Presidential Correspondence File, Pakistan, (1969–1970) )↩
  2. Nixon approved the sale of 1 million tons of wheat to Pakistan under PL–480.↩