| Publication |
2009.
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| Summary/Abstract |
The Central Treaty Organization (CENTO) is considered the failed West-inspired alliance of the Cold War that was dissolved in 1979 after the fall of the Shah. Britain found the regional member states, Iran, Turkey and Pakistan, unwilling to focus on a common deterrent strategy or assign forces to this alliance. For two decades Pakistan wanted to turn CENTO against India, but London resisted any policy that could offend New Delhi. Eventually Whitehall admitted that this organization was nothing more than "a paper tiger" and, in accordance with the 1974 Defence Review, opted for military disengagement from the alliance. British policy was based on a realist estimate: CENTO did not face the prospect of Russian aggression. Furthermore, no military contingency planning existed for the cooperation of CENTO with NATO.
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