ABSTRACT
The US was concerned that mounting Chinese pressures along the Indo-Tibetan borders could seriously threaten the subcontinent’s safety unless India and Pakistan overcame the bitterness of their mutual insecurities and worked together in concert with Washington. If the Indian leadership faced a difficult introduction to the new US Administration, the Pakistanis appeared to have a slightly easier run. Dean Rusk was concerned not to appear to be focused solely on Delhi’s problems in South Asia. Pakistan’s border dispute with Afghanistan was threatening to get bigger unless the Shah of Iran’s mediation with Washington’s support made some headway. Rusk urged Ambassador Walter P McConaughy in Karachi to press Ayub Khan on sustaining diplomatic efforts with the Afghans while the Embassy in Kabul was asked to do the same with the Afghan government. In the end, Beijing’s action proved to be the issue demanding most urgent attention.
