ganda in Pakistan about the war continued; the war was
not rationally analyzed in Pakistan,[58][59] with most
of the blame being heaped on the leadership and little
importance given to intelligence failures that persisted
until the debacle of the 1971 war, when Pakistan was
comprehensively defeated and dismembered by India,
leading to the creation of Bangladesh.
Involvement of other nations
The United States of America, which was the primary
supplier of arms and ammunitions to both nations (especially Pakistan), placed a military embargo. The US
was alarmed that weapons given to fight communism
had been used by its allies to fight each other. This was
a major blow to Pakistan, as much of its military hardware was supplied by the US, and it is believed to have
contributed to the Pakistani decision that its forces could
not sustain the fighting much beyond mid-September.
[60] Following the US decision, other NATO allies (including the UK) stopped military supplies to both nations. Both before and during the war, China had been
a strong ally of Pakistan and had constantly threatened
India, with whom it had fought a war in 1962. There were
also reports of Chinese troop movements on the Indian
border to support Pakistan.[61] This was one of the reasons why India chose to accept the ceasefire, since it
believed that it could not sustain a war on two fronts.
While India's Non Aligned Movement stand saw few nations coming to its aid, Pakistan received help from other
Islamic nations from Asia including Turkey and Iran. Other Islamic countries like Indonesia too extended aid to
Pakistan. The USSR was more neutral than most other
nations during the war and even invited both nations to
host talks in Tashkent.
Consequences of the war
India
The war had created a tense state of affairs in its aftermath. Though the war was indecisive, Pakistan suffered much heavier material and personnel casualties
compared to India. Many war historians believe that had
the war continued, with growing losses and decreasing
supplies, Pakistan would have been eventually defeated. India's decision to declare ceasefire with Pakistan
caused some outrage among the Indian populace, who
believed they had the upper hand. Both India and Pakistan increased their defense spending and the Cold War
politics had taken roots in the subcontinent. The Indian
Military, which was already undergoing rapid expansions, made improvements in command and control to
address some shortcomings. Partly as a result of the
inefficient information gathering, India established the
Research and Analysis Wing for external espionage and
intelligence. India viewed the American policy during
the war as biased, since Pakistan had started the war
but the US did little to restrain Pakistan.[62] India slowly
started aligning with the Soviet Union both politically and
militarily. This would be cemented formally years later
before the Bangladesh Liberation War. In light of the pre-
C OVER STORY
vious war against the Chinese, the performance in this
war was viewed as a "politico-strategic" victory in India.
The Indian premier, Shastri was hailed as a hero in New
Delhi.[63]
PAKISTAN
Many Pakistanis rated the performance of their military
positively. September 6 is celebrated as 'Defence Day'
in Pakistan in commemoration of the successful defence
of Sialkot against the Indian army. Pakistani Air Force's
performance was seen in much better