Thank god Nixon did not win!

Even today most of the Bangladeshi's are happy that the U.S did not get its way especially during the India-Pakistan war of 1971 which gave independence to Bangladesh from the Pakistani rulers.as foreign policies go by,1971 saw most of the well formed foreign policy plans of Nixon and Henry Kissinger go into the dumps.the Bangladeshi's were suffering under the control of their Pakistani rulers and there were protesting for their independence from their Pakistani rulers.East pakistan as Bangladesh was known then was biting at the reins and things were going from bad to worse with the Pakistani army taking affirmative action against the rebels.
India,being aware of all this wanted a dialogue to be started between the various parties with the hope that peace would prevail.but that proposal did not even get off the ground.in the meanwhile Pakistan which was allied with China was taking serious action against the rebels in East Pakistan,driving the rebels into the Indian territories.Indira[India's prime minister] seeing that India was becoming overcome by the wave of refugees decided to meet with Nixon prior to which she and India had signed an all weather friendship pact with Soviet union.the all too infamous meeting between Indira gandhi,Henry kissinger and Nixon took place in late 1971.the U.S and nixon in particular wanted India to back off East Pakistan so that no war interferes with the U.S plans vis a vis China.but that did not happen.the U.S and Nixon in particular undrestimated Indira gandhi's resolve and the rest is history.Bangladesh got her independence and both India and the Soviet Union can truly be credited for helping her achieve this.all that the U.S did at that time was to vehemently object to the idea of a free Bangladesh,also the U.S asked China to attack India and at the same time the U.S had also sent in one of her warships into the bay of bengal thinking that would be a deterrent to the creation of Bangladesh.of course as history would tel you,the U.S failed miserably in its foreign policy at that time because in one dumb decision by a paranoid president[Nixon] and an arrogant adviser[Kissinger] the U.S managed to rub off India the wrong way,the consequences of that decision still resonates ever so loudly in the sub continent.of course the parameters as well as the players have changed and probably the new generation may not remember much but India and Bangladesh both have a long memory and they are not going to forget what the U.S tried to do in 1971,sacrificing democracy so that the U.S foreign policy vis a vis China would be on track!the recently declassified documents sheds light especially on the Nixon-Indira meetings.

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