Office of the Historian

311. Telegram from the Department of State to the Embassy in Pakistan1

Washington, November 3, 1978, 0152Z

279885. Subject: Message From President Carter to President Zia.

You may deliver the following message from President Carter to President Zia.

Begin text. Thank you for your October 8 letter about the Camp David meeting, and your encouragement for our efforts to bring about a just and lasting peace in the Middle East.2 I especially appreciated your government’s public statement of support for those efforts.

The Egyptian-Israel negotiations now in progress must, as I said in my statement of October 12 opening these talks,3 be the basis for, and the first step toward, the larger goal of a comprehensive and lasting settlement between Israel and her neighbors. We will continue to do everything that we can to advance the cause of peace in the Middle East and elsewhere in the world.

With regard to South Asia, we have consistently opposed India’s acquisition of deep penetration-strike aircraft, as you pointed out in your letter. We have told the Government of India that we regret its decision to purchase Jaguar aircraft and were disturbed by their public linking of this purchase to the possible sale of F5’s to Pakistan.4 Nonetheless, I still hope that this purchase will not interfere with the rapprochement between your two countries. I believe that India sees its own best interests served by an independent and united Pakistan, and I hope that India and Pakistan can develop a relationship of mutual trust which permits both countries to devote their resources to more productive purposes.

I do, of course, understand your concerns about Afghanistan and the Soviet Union. I assure you that we are not complacent about developments in the area. We recognize the sovereign equality of countries in the region and our support for the integrity of Pakistan is unwavering. Our major goal in the area is to help our friends safeguard their integrity and independence, free from domination by any outside power.

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Under Secretary of State Benson is visiting Pakistan to discuss military and scientific matters with officials of your government, and I hope that they will share their concerns with her candidly.5

I regret that because of my heavy schedule, it was not possible for me to see Agha Shahi, your Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, while he was in the United States.6

Thank you once again for sharing your views with me; I value these contacts very much. End text.

Vance
  1. Source: National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, D780453–0568. Confidential; Immediate; Exdis. Sent for information Immediate to Kabul and New Delhi. Drafted in the White House; cleared in S/S–O and by Wisner; approved by Miklos.↩
  2. See Document 307.↩
  3. See Public Papers: Carter, 1978, Book II, pp. 1757–1760.↩
  4. See footnote 3, Document 141.↩
  5. Benson met with Zia on November 4 and Shahi on November 6. See Documents 312 and 313.↩
  6. Shahi met with Vance on October 2 in New York. See footnote 6, Document 305.↩