Then Nixon, now Trump: Why India sees a dangerous pattern in Washington’s Pakistan playbook after 54 years

Like Trump, Nixon’s presidency was mired in scandal—his infamous resignation over the Watergate cover-up remains one of the darkest chapters in US political history.

US President Donald Trump’s recent moves -- courting Pakistan’s Army chief, slapping tariffs on India and expressing indifference over New Delhi’s deep ties with Moscow -- have stirred uneasy memories in diplomatic circles. For many, they evoke the shadow of another Republican president whose controversial foreign policy tilted dangerously against India: Richard Nixon.

Like Trump, Nixon’s presidency was mired in scandal. His infamous resignation over the Watergate cover-up remains one of the darkest chapters in US political history. But beyond domestic disgrace, Nixon's legacy also bears the stain of disastrous foreign policy decisions, particularly his dangerous appeasement of Pakistan during the 1971 Indo-Pak War, even as the Pakistani military unleashed mass atrocities in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).

Nixon’s China gambit and realignment of Cold War

In February 1972, Nixon’s dramatic visit to China became a defining moment in Cold War diplomacy. After two decades of frosty silence, Nixon’s handshake with Mao Zedong rewrote global equations. As historian Dave Roos noted in history, this landmark thaw was the product of secret back-channel diplomacy led by National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger, whose covert trip to Beijing in July 1971 paved the way.

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Nixon’s motives, however, were steeped more in realpolitik than in reconciliation. The goal wasn’t just to mend ties with China, but to use Beijing as a counterweight to the Soviet Union. This triangulation -- playing China and the USSR against each other -- was a cynical calculation aimed at tipping the balance of power in Washington’s favour, especially amid its struggles in Vietnam.

Pakistan: The real moral failure of Nixon’s foreign policy

While Nixon’s China visit grabbed global headlines, his quiet alliance with Pakistan during the 1971 Indo-Pak War revealed the more sinister side of his foreign policy. Despite a US-imposed arms embargo on South Asia, the Nixon-Kissinger duo actively worked to supply Pakistan with weapons through third-party nations like Jordan and Iran.

Declassified US documents show that Nixon personally approved the covert transfer of 17 fighter jets from Jordan to Pakistan just days after war broke out. Kissinger even suggested using Iran to facilitate weapons deliveries, fearing that India’s rising military advantage would dismantle Pakistan and embolden the Soviets.

But what makes this tilt toward Pakistan truly indefensible was the timing: Nixon was fully aware of the widespread genocide being carried out by the Pakistani army in East Pakistan. While over 300,000 civilians were killed and millions displaced, the White House chose silence over principle.

The “Blood Telegram”: A diplomatic rebellion

The moral bankruptcy of the Nixon administration was called out not by the media, but by American diplomats themselves. The most searing indictment came from Archer Blood, the US Consul General in Dhaka, who led a group of State Department officials in sending what is now known as the “Blood Telegram.”

In it, they accused their own government of “moral bankruptcy” for supporting a military regime that was committing atrocities against its own people. But the cries from the ground were ignored. Nixon and Kissinger continued to back Pakistan, viewing India as too close to the Soviet Union and too independent for America’s liking.

The ghosts of the past in Trump’s policy

Fast forward to 2025, and Donald Trump’s hostile posture towards India -- paired with warmth toward Pakistan’s military leadership -- appears eerily familiar. His public disdain for India’s trade practices, indifference over India-Russia ties, and open doors for Pakistan’s spymaster signal a return to the flawed Cold War logic that prioritised short-term alliances over long-term values.

Like Nixon, Trump seems driven by transactional interests and a disdain for nuanced diplomacy. And like Nixon, his tilt toward Pakistan could prove to be a geopolitical miscalculation, especially at a time when India has emerged as a strategic bulwark against both Chinese expansionism and Islamist extremism.

History, it seems, is repeating itself. And once again, it is India that finds itself navigating the fallout of a deeply flawed American realignment.