NSDD 99 United States Security Strategy for Near East and South Asia

Cooperation with Arab Powers. Given the critical need for facilities access in the region and, in some instances, the potential of Arab military forces, we should continue and expand our cooperative planning with Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain, Jordan, Egypt, Morocco and Sudan. We should also consider what potential role Lebanon might play in our strategy in the future. Improvements in our strategic position in the Horn of Africa should be sought. This could well require increased efforts to weaken Soviet positions in the PDRY and Ethiopia. 11st -- Cooperation with Pakistan. Our efforts to promote cooperation with Pakistan to meet Soviet contingencies in the region must be pressed, including plans for joint exercises and access to facilities, bearing in mind the political and military challenges Pakistan faces. The precedent established by the invasion and continued occupation of Afghanistan and the potential for future Soviet encroachments in areas such as Baluchistan should be discussed anew with the Pakistanis. Bearing in mind Pakistani sensitivities, our future efforts should reemphasize the value of prior contingency planning and a program for Security Assistance which is rationalized with our own capabilities. In this regard our plans should recognize the importance of Pakistan in the interdiction of Soviet LOCs to the Gulf and Arabian Sea. We must recognize the importance of, and be willing to help plan to meet, those contingencies which the Pakistanis find most threatening. We should also continue with determination and clarity of purpose to discourage the further development of Pakistan's nuclear weapons capabilities. 1IST Cooperation with India. Consistent with our goals for cooperation with Pakistan we should adopt a diplomatic strategy which more explicitly recognizes India's strategic importance in both regional and global terms. This strategy should have as its initial objective, the improvement of relations between India, the PRC and Pakistan and the gradual weakening of India's military dependency on the Soviet Union. To this end we must continue our efforts to broaden our economic and military ties with India including closer liaison between our military establishments. We must continue our efforts to convince the Indian Government of the need to resist Soviet expansion and our determination to do so and to discourage regional disputes which can only redound to the advantage of the Soviet Union. (Ist implementation I would like the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense to prepare a comprehensive agenda of the preferred ways to implement the military and diplomatic strategies outlined above. A comprehensive examination of requirements for contingencies in the region is needed to include prepositioning, communications, access to enroute and in-theater facilities as well as a detailed TOP SECRET COPY 1h 10:9 OF COPIES