US acceded to Pakistan's demand over secret nuclear programme in exchange for support against USSR, reveal declassified documents
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WASHINGTON - The US acceded to Pakistan's demand, supported by China, to "set aside" its concerns over Islamabad's secretive nuclear weapons programme 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 that then Pakistani dictator General Zia-ul Haq and Chinese Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping were successful in extracting this price from the US in lieu of Islamabad's support to America against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
In addition to the US turning a blind eye to Pakistan's nuclear weapons programme, Deng also convinced the US to start giving more military and financial aid to Pakistan, according to the US Foreign Relations 1977-1980 volume on Afghanistan.
The voluminous document indicates that both Zia and Deng successfully convinced the then Carter administration that India under former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi would be pro-Soviet.
