What was the American attitude towards Kashmir at the time of Independence ?

Refer article by Narendra Singh Sarila published on the edit page of "The Times of India", Mumbai edition, dated 14th August 2000.

That article, based on US State Department's secret archives, establishes the following:

• In October 1948, General George Marshall, US Secretary of State, was convinced that J&K's accession to India was valid and he therefore refused to toe the British Foreign Secretary's line of recognizing Pakistan's occupation of J&K's northern territories including Gilgit.
• Dean Rusk, Assistant to General Marshall, upheld the validity of J&K's accession to another British delegation that visited him in 1948.
• It was Britain that played the perfidious role of letting Pakistan continue to occupy J&K's northern territories as a bulwark against the feared invasion by the Soviet Union, the argument being that Islam is incompatible with Communism.
• The change in US policy towards India's legally rightful claim to the entire J&K State came only after Nehru was persuaded by Mountbatten to agree to a cease-fire and to consider partitioning J&K leaving Gilgit in Pakistan.