Secret telegram
December
5, 1971
From: Secretary State Washington DC
To: Amembassy Amman
Subject: Pakistan Request for Jordanian
Military Assistance
1. As you know, USG has recently taken decisions
(STATE 219318) not to supply military equipment either to India or to Pakistan in present circumstances.
You should point this out to King and note that US legislation prevents us
from authorizing any third country, including Jordan, from transferring
US-origin military equipment to either India or Pakistan.
2. You should then go on to say however that you
assume His Majesty has already himself concluded that providing F-104s to
Pakistan would seriously hamper his own military capabilities and therefore
would not be a good idea from his point of view. As you pointed out to King,
reducing Jordan's air defenses at this
delicate juncture in his relations with other Middle East states would seem
ill-advised. Planes might well be lost and getting replacements could be
serious problem given financial strictures. Moreover, and we suggest that you
stress this point to Hussein, loss of important phosphate market in India would probably result.
3. FYI: While we would like to keep Pakistan, see no choice for King but
to convey his inability to comply with Yahya's request in terms of paragraph
two above. If he feels constrained to cite US, we would hope he would note that
prohibition applies to India as well as to Pakistan and that all countries
holding US origin equipment are equally affected. END FYI.
4. Regarding King's query what Iran may be doing we have
repeated reftel to Tehran. Embassy Tehran requested
report what information presently available to it without making specific
inquiry at this point of Government of Iran what steps Iran taking iA response
Pak-Indian hostilities.
Executive Secretary
Source: Bangladesh Liberation War and the Nixon House 1971, Enayetur
Rahim and Joyce L. Rahim, Pustaka Dhaka, p – 416 - 417