The United States supplied arms and ammunition worth $2 billion to Pakistan between 1954 and 1971, according to a post by the Indian Army’s Eastern Command.
The post, shared on social media on August 5, included a newspaper clipping dated August 5, 1971. The clipping was headlined, “US Arms Worth $2 Billion Shipped to Pakistan Since 1954”, and was part of a series titled “This Day That Year – Build Up of War – 05 Aug 1971” under the hashtag #KnowFacts.
According to the post, on August 4, 1971, the then minister for defence production, V C Shukla, informed the Rajya Sabha that the Indian government estimated the value of US arms supplied to Pakistan since the 1954 arms pact to be $2 billion.
Shukla noted that the United States and China had provided military equipment to Pakistan at highly concessional rates, describing some of the deals as being at “throw-away prices”. In contrast, France had supplied arms only against hard cash, without offering any concessions.
He also stated that while precise details were unavailable regarding arms transfers to Pakistan after March 26, 1971, when the crackdown on Bangladesh began, China had supplied “large quantities” of non-lethal items.