DiplomacyStrains and embargoes
Peace made in Tashkent, not Washington
The 1965 war was settled under Soviet auspices, a sign of how far American influence in South Asia had slipped.
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Dateline
Tashkent
Uzbek SSR, Soviet Union
41° 18′ N · 69° 14′ E
Dateline
Tashkent
Uzbek SSR, Soviet Union
41° 18′ N · 69° 14′ E
Background
After the ceasefire of September 1965, Ayub Khan travelled to Washington, where President Johnson welcomed him at the White House on 14 December. Their joint statement the next day reaffirmed support for the Security Council's ceasefire resolutions of September and November 1965, and recalled their meetings of 19611,2.
What happened
The peace itself was negotiated in the Soviet Union. From 4 to 10 January 1966 Ayub and the Indian prime minister, Lal Bahadur Shastri, met in Tashkent with Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin as mediator3. In the declaration signed on 10 January the two sides agreed to withdraw their forces to the positions held before the conflict by 25 February 1966, not to interfere in each other's internal affairs, to restore economic and diplomatic relations and to exchange prisoners4. The United States backed the Soviet effort, judging that a settlement served its interests even if Moscow took the credit5.
After Tashkent
Washington eased the embargo gradually: in February 1966 it allowed purchases of non-lethal equipment, and in April 1967 it permitted cash sales of spare parts for American equipment already supplied - important to Pakistan - while maintaining the ban on lethal end-items and ending grant military aid6.
Why it mattered
Tashkent marked a shift: for the first time the Soviet Union, not the United States or Britain, was the peacemaker in South Asia. In Pakistan, where many felt the agreement surrendered the army's gains, it was unpopular and contributed to the political troubles that ended Ayub's rule in 19693,7.
Sources
- Joint Statement Following Discussions With the President of Pakistan, The American Presidency Project, UC Santa Barbara, 15 December 1965 · Primary document
- Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968, Volume XXV, Document 267: Record of Meeting, Office of the Historian, US Department of State, December 1965 · Primary document
- Milestones: The India–Pakistan War of 1965, Office of the Historian, US Department of State · Official
- Tashkent Declaration, Wikipedia · Reference
- Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968, Volume XXV, Editorial Note 278 (Tashkent), Office of the Historian, US Department of State, January 1966 · Primary document
- Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976, Volume E–7, Document 42: Analytical Summary Prepared for the National Security Council Review Group, Office of the Historian, US Department of State, 1969 · Primary document
- The United States and Pakistan, 1947–2000: Disenchanted Allies (Dennis Kux), Woodrow Wilson Center Press / Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001 · Scholarly
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