Some top secret papers recently declassified by India on the 1971 war show that United States was hostile towards India during the conflict, the Times of India reported on Sunday.The documents reveal that India moved ahead to create Bangladesh despite reports that Nixon Administration had put three battalions of Marines on standby to deter India, in addition to deploying the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise with orders to target Indian Army facilities. The documents show how the Americans held back communication regarding Pakistan’s desire to surrender in Dhaka by almost a day. The documents claim that the US 7th Fleet ostensibly deployed in the Bay of Bengal to evacuate US nationals could also be used to attack the Indian military.
They say that the Nixon administration continued to arm Pakistan despite imposing an embargo on providing both Islamabad and New Delhi military hardware and support. They suggest that India suspected the US was sending weapons to Pakistan and planned to intercept three Pakistani vessels for ammunition before the war. However, India dropped the plan after its foreign ministry’s assessment that the move could trigger hostilities.
