WASHINGTON – The US acceded to Pakistan’s demand, supported by China, to”set aside” its concerns over Islamabad’s secretive nuclear weaponsprogramme in the immediate aftermath of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan,according to the latest documents declassified from the era.
The documents, which were released by the State Department, reveal thatthen Pakistani dictator General Zia-ul Haq and Chinese Vice Premier DengXiaoping were successful in extracting this price from the US in lieu ofIslamabad’s support to America against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
In addition to the US turning a blind eye to Pakistan’s nuclear weaponsprogramme, Deng also convinced the US to start giving more military andfinancial aid to Pakistan, according to the US Foreign Relations 1977-1980volume on Afghanistan.
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The voluminous document indicates that both Zia and Deng successfullyconvinced the then Carter administration that India under former PrimeMinister Indira Gandhi would be pro-Soviet.
