New Indo-US relationship in the offing : Keating
President Nixon”, report the outcome of the Gandin The
New Delhi Nov. 13.-The Us Ambassador in India, Mr. Kenneth Keating, has said “A new and mature relationship between India and the US will emerge as a result of the meeting between Prime Minister Gandhi and President Nixon”, reports PTI.
The Ambassador’s assessment of the outcome of the Gandhi-Nixon talks came in an article in the American Embassy publication, The American Reporter.
Political observers in the capital noted that Mr. Keating’s assessment ran counter to those of American news media, particularly such leading papers as the New York Times and the Washington Post. These papers, it was further noted, had consistently been proved correct in their reportage of US policies and decisions on Bangladesh.
In his article, Mr. Keating suggested that because of the talks India and the US were “on the threshould of healthier and more balanced relationship.”
He also claimed that the US and India had achieved understanding “in the present agonizing situation.”
Reports received in the capital by western diplomatic sources appeared to bar out the view of American as well as West European news media that while Mrs. Gandhi carried her message forcefully to the public, Press and Congressmen, Mr. Nixon, Mr. Rogers, Dr. Kissinger and Mr. Sisco (Assistant Secretary of State); continue to back Gen. Yahya Khan.
Observers noted in this connection that even on Thursday, the State Department spokesmen’s briefing on Mr. Sisco’s meetings with Indian and Pakistani Ambassadors showed that the Administration was still adopting the even-handed approach” in appealing to both India and Pakistan for restraint.
Mr. Keating in his article said that there was no question in his mind that the US “will remain in the forefront of the humanitarian effort to allevate suffering on both sides of the border,” and “will continue to encourage a political solution, and to counsel moderation in an attempt to reduce the risk of war and the added misery that hostilities would cause.”
The US influence, he added, “at best is limited, but we shall utilise it in a positive fashion and in no way against India’s avowed interest.”
Meanwhile, American news media continued to discuss Mrs. Gandhi’s visit to the US last week.
The general consensus would appear to be that while President Nixon and Mrs. Ghandi had made a sustained endeavour to understand each other’s viewpoint, the two sides remain where they were in their approach to resolve the Bangladesh crisis.
Newspapers have noted that Mrs. Ghandi’s three hours and fifteen minutes’ discussion with Mr. Nixon was the longest between him and any head of State of Government in recent times.
Washington Post columist Philip Potter, discussing the American stoppage of arms, has noted that Washington has taken great pains to give the Pakistani government of President Yahya Khan credit for cancellation of the licences for export on arms, while at the same time wanting Mrs. Ghandi “to use the action to restrain those Indian who have been glamouring for sterner measures to end the eight-monthold crisis”.
Columnist Benjamin Welles of The New York Times has said that in two days’ talks in the USA with Mr. Nixon, Mrs. Ghandi probably has not changed the Administration’s predelication for Pakistan. Mr. Welles noted that on arrival at the White House Mrs. Ghandi had said she had come in search of some “wise impulse”.
Mr. Welles added: It was unclear whether Mrs. Ghandi’s warning would evoke a “wise impulse in time to avert further tragedy.”
The New York Post in a forthright attack on the administration has said US support-military, economic and psychological—for the (Yahya) Khan regime has steadily encouraged its blind intransigence. It has subjected India to the overwhelming burden of keeping the refugees alive. Officially Washington purports to be impartially counselling mutual prudence.
Newsweek magazine said that Mrs. Ghandi’s search for “deeper understanding“ had proved fruitless and President Nixon and the Prime Minister failed to agree on ways to end the crisis or even how to repair the strained relations between Washington and New Delhi.
Reference: Hindustan Standard 14.11.1971