NIXON-KISSINGER CONVERSATION On May 26, 1971 American President Richard Nixon had a telephone conversation with his Assistant for National Security Affairs Henry Kissinger on the situation in East Pakistan. Referring to Indira Gandhi's letter to Nixon, Kissinger suggested that the US president should answer the letter and use it to put pressure on Indira not to take military action. He also requested Nixon to send a reply to Pakistan President Yahya Khan's letter, which according to him "would give him [Yahya] an excuse to answer all the things by saying, listing all the things he's doing because he can't get any publicity here".