Henry Kissinger vs Pakistan
Bakhtiar Agha
The former US Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger died on 29th November, 2023. He was 100 years old. He served the United States of America in different positions but gained a worldwide popularity as a diplomat only. He was actually secretary of state in the President Nixon era.
Henry Alfred Kissinger did not start his career as a diplomat. In the beginning, he served the US army on many positions, where his working was outstanding, and he was considered a man of high caliber. However, he became very famous on international level when President Nixon appointed him as foreign minister of the United States of America.
As a diplomat, he showed his ability that his appointment as foreign minister of the US was a right decision in strengthening the American diplomacy globally. He tried to solve different problems such as reduction of arms, and curtailing the nuclear weapons by signing a treaty with the USSR and other nuclear states. His greatest achievement was the beginning a new relationship with the People’s Republic of China, in which Pakistan played a pivotal role.
It is important to note that he was on a 3-day official visit to Pakistan in May 1970, when suddenly he was found in China. This trip was very secretly arranged by the mutual efforts of Pakistan, America, and China that no other country came to know that the US secretary of state is busy in meeting with Chairman Chinese Communist Party Mao Zedong, Prime Minster Zhou Enlai, and other high officials of China in Beijing.
This visit was kept highly secret that only the President of Pakistan, General Muhammad Yahya Khan and few other high-ups were aware of that meeting, and the same level of secrecy was also kept in Washington DC and Beijing.
Henry Kissinger during this secret visit paved the way for normalization of ties between the two rival countries, resulting that after a period of time, America recognized China, which also became a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.
Apart from this, Kissinger’s role in East Pakistan crisis is questionable, as it was claimed by the President of Pakistan, General Yahya Khan that the President of the United States Nixon had promised to send a naval fleet to the Bay of Bengal to counter the Indian aggression in East Pakistan but Kissinger was the person who asked Nixon not to interfere in this crisis, and as a result, East Pakistan became Bangladesh. There were also many other reasons for this tragedy but this was one of the reasons of the division of Pakistan in 1971.
In 1974, when Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto insisted on getting a uranium plant from France for Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission and an agreement was also signed in this regard between the two countries, however, the US was against this deal, and Kissinger went Islamabad to stop Bhutto from purchasing the plant but he refused. As per Bhutto’s version, Kissinger said that if he (Bhutto) was eager to get this nuclear plant then he (Bhutto) would be made a worst example in front of the world.
What happened to Bhutto after that, is known to all of us. In so many weak and underdeveloped countries of the world, Kissinger fully ensured the America’s interference in their important and strategic affairs.
Now, Kissinger is no more in this world, and not in a position to make others an example before the world but he will answer for all of his deeds – good or bad, the Almighty God knows better.
The writer is a senior journalist and political analyst, based in Islamabad. He can be reached at: aghabakhtiar7@gmail.com.
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