Critical Triangle continues...

The Nixon Presidency starting in January 1969 would exacerbate Afghanistan’s sense of isolation with its “tilt,” largely as a result of the Sino-Soviet split. While the USSR would present itself as a more viable option than ever before, Nixon’s outreach to China, through Pakistan, would effectively leave Afghanistan clinging to its last option.In the summer of 1969, on Nixon’s visit to Pakistan, he requested Yahya Khan to convey a message to Beijing that Asia could not “move forward” without China and that the US would not be part of any Soviet moves towards increasing China’s isolation.

This would be the opening gambit in what would culminate in Nixon’s visit to Beijing a few years later. While the details of the US-China rapprochement were unknown, the India Pakistan war of 1971 would have left the Afghans bewildered. The rhetoric from both China and the US seemed similar, both seeming to move or threaten to move forces in support of Pakistan on the one hand.

On the other, the Soviet Union while condemning Pakistani repression of its Bengali citizens, was content to continue its economic and military assistance to Pakistan up until August 1971. In addition to the obvious geo-political alarm, this would have seemed an ideological body blow to Afghanistan’s Pashtunistan claims, as in effect China and the US were supporting or ignoring the use of religion to suppress ethnicity.

To be continued.....