On the morning of November 5, 1971, President Richard Nixon and his National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger met in the Oval Office of the White House to debrief after Nixon’s meeting the previous day with Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Gandhi had come to Washington to press Nixon on the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in East Pakistan. Seven months after Operation Searchlight had begun, approximately ten million Bengali refugees had crossed into India. Gandhi wanted the United States to pressure Yahya Khan to stop the killing.
Kissinger was not sentimental about Gandhi either. “The Indians are bastards anyway,” he replied. “They are starting a war there.” Then, reflecting on what he felt he had achieved by receiving Gandhi cordially while conceding nothing: “While she was a bitch, we got what we wanted too. She will not be able to go home and say that the United States didn’t give her a warm reception and therefore in despair she’s got to go to war.”
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