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USA sanction Pakistan just after the 1965 Indo-Pak war. Pakistan was a strong ally of the USA then, as I believe. Look at the following image. There is a suspension in 1966 in the area of military aid.

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India didn't have any supply of weapons from the USA. India was also not involved in an alliance with the USA. Pakistan was a member of SEATO, CENTO. A decrease of assistance affected only Pakistan, not India.

It seems an act of betrayal to me.

So, what prompted the USA to cut the supply of military aid to Pakistan to compromise the alliance? What was the psychology of the USA behind that act?

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  • 3
    I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it belongs on History.SE
    – JonathanReez
    Sep 18, 2017 at 14:09
  • 7
    Questions are not off topic just because they might happen to also be on topic elsewhere @JonathanReez.
    – yannis
    Sep 20, 2017 at 10:50
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    I'm struggling to find any mention of sanctions on Pakistan in 1965. Do you happen to know where I could find out more?
    – indigochild
    Sep 20, 2017 at 18:11
  • Food for thought just by looking at the chart : 1.It seems the US military aid was already steadily decreasing in the period 1962-1965, before the Indo-Pak war. 2. In 1966-1969, the economic assitance goes up again, which could mitigate the effect of lost military help.
    – Evargalo
    May 23, 2018 at 15:25

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A fair bit of searching online did not turn up any mention of U.S. sanctions on Pakistan in 1965. However, the U.S. Department of State's website does include a discussion of U.S.-Pakistani relations during this period.

According to the Dept. of State, the United States and Pakistan had enjoyed a consistently positive relationship in the decade or so prior to 1965. This was largely because Pakistan was actively resisting U.S.S.R influence in the region and because it was seen as a model secular nation in the predominantly Muslim region.

This changed around 1965 when Pakistan and India went to war over the Kashmir region. India and the United States had a tepid relationship largely due to India's participation in a neutrality movement (the "third world"). When the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution calling for an end to the conflict, the United States ceased nearly all of their military-related aid to both sides. Since Pakistan received most of that assistance, it was felt much stronger by them.

This could be what you mean by a "sanction". It isn't formally a sanction, but it is a significant decrease in assistance.

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  • @anonymous : that is a good statement that would fit in your question rather than the ambiguous vocable "sanction"...
    – Evargalo
    Sep 21, 2017 at 13:21
  • @indigochild, I don't want Pakistani perspective. Coz, Pakistani perspective is "USA betrayed Pakistan in 1965". I want to know the US explanation. Even if the USA don't use the word 'sanction', the situation was no less than a sanction. What if USA put sanction but officially refuse to accept that?
    – user4514
    Sep 21, 2017 at 14:41
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    This is a substandard and a made-up answer. I will never award this the bounty. half of the bounty will be awarded automatically.
    – user4514
    Sep 27, 2017 at 1:34
  • My suggestion would be to read the question and to check the links supplied in the question. The question is already edited.
    – user4514
    Sep 27, 2017 at 9:46
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The only explanation I can guess is that the USA saw Pakistan's attack on India in 1965 as a possible shift of balance of power in favor of communist China.

Pakistan was a member of US-led anti-communist pole (SEATO, CENTO, etc) from its inception. But, due to hostility of China with India, Pakistan started to warm relation with China ("An enemy of my enemy is my friend"). The progress was steady and significant:

  1. 1950 - Establishment of diplomatic relationship with China.
  2. 1962 - Sino-Indian war where India lost miserably.
  3. 1963 - Resolution of land disputes with China by ceding disputed lands.

USA saw the warming of the relationship of Pakistan with a communist country, especially during the peak of Cold War, as a duplicity from Pakistani side (we can see a sudden slump of US aid in 1961, and a steady decline from 1962).

India was a nonaligned country, so posed no real threat to the USA. When Pakistan attacked India in 1965, USA considered this as a meaningful rise of a second communist power.

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