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US role in 1971 B'desh war tragic mistake: envoy
America's role in opposing the 1971 emergence of Bangladesh was a "tragic mistake", a top US envoy has said.
America's role in opposing the 1971 emergence of Bangladesh was a "tragic mistake", a top US envoy has said.
"Senator Kennedy helped my country to correct the mistake back in 1971 and we expressed that by quickly recognising Bangladesh," US Ambassador in Dhaka James F Moriarty said while speaking at a memorial meeting on Edward Kennedy at the Liberation War Museum in Dhaka on Wednesday.
"I think we expressed that view by very quickly recognising Bangladesh after the end of the war. I think you all will recall that we were one of the first countries to recognise Bangladesh," Moriarty said.
The then US administration under President Richard Nixon and secretary of state Henry Kissinger sided with Pakistani military junta during the nine-month Liberation war, crucially backed by India.
The US media largely, several influential US senators including Kennedy widely supported the Bangladesh’s cause when Washington preferred to support Pakistan as Kissinger was engaged in a reconciliation dialogue with Communist China with active mediation of Islamabad.
Several state department officials in Washington, Dhaka and New Delhi too tended to support Bangladesh but several of them was exposed to wraths of Kissinger while one of them Archar Blood, the then US consular general in Dhaka eventually lost his career for his role in support of Independence struggle at that time.
