Foreign Office Files for India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, 1947-1980

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Sourced from the British Foreign Office files, this is an outstanding resource for the political and social history of India, Pakistan and Afghanistan in this period.

There is excellent content on Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim and Kashmir, as well as other frontier regions. The threat posed by China and the Soviet Union is analysed in detail. Other files look at the impact on UK, US and European trade, industrial policy, education and the media. There is an immense variety of material including diplomatic dispatches, inward and outward telegrams, newspaper cuttings and transcripts, maps, photographs, political and economic reports, accounts of visits and tours, minutes of meetings, conference proceedings, letters, leaflets and other ephemera.

This project comprises the following three sections:

• Independence, Partition and the Nehru Era, 1947-1964
• South Asian Conflicts and Independence for Bangladesh, 1965-1971
• Afghanistan and the Cold War, Emergency Rule in India, and the Resumption of Civilian Rule in Pakistan, 1972-1980

Foreign Office Files for India, Pakistan and Afghanistan is an Archives Direct project.

Please see this link for further information on our other Archives Direct collections.