The then United States Republican administration had always wished it had a man as 'strong' as Indira Gandhi [Images], says former top US diplomat Henry Kissinger in an acknowledgment of the strength of the former prime minister.

In the same breath, Kissinger, the US Secretary of State during the Republican administrations of Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, said Gandhi did not have a personality that appeals at 'first blush' to Americans.

On a visit to Afghanistan and in a meeting with Mohammad Daoud, the Head of State and Prime Minister, Kissinger shared a number of views including those on India, non-alignment and the personality of Gandhi.

Minutes of the meeting between Kissinger and Daoud on August 8, 1976 are part of the documents pertaining to American Diplomacy in South Asia between 1973 and 1976 made public with memos and documents now declassified.

"I think it's correct to say Mrs. Gandhi does not have a personality that appeals at first blush to Americans. Maybe not even at second blush. There have even been cases of people who have resisted her a third time," Kissinger added when asked by Daoud to characterise relations between India and the United States.

"Our relations with India are friendly and aloof. It's a fortunate thing the Indians are pacifists, otherwise their neighbours would be worried. The first time we were in India, they told me that Kabul belonged to India too," Kissinger, the secretary of state in the Ford administration has been recorded as having said according to a White House Memo.

"But we have no particular national quarrel with India. We feel that whenever they get into domestic difficulties, they start kicking us around. That is great fun until we react to it. So we have no particular outstanding quarrel. But you could also not speak of an intimate friendship. And we would not be amused if India started to bring pressure -- military pressure -- on its neighbors. On the other hand, we are encouraging both India and Pakistan to settle their difficulties peacefully. I think some progress has been made," Kissinger said.

For his part, Daoud said, "With India, we have good friendly relations", to which Kissinger said, "Like we".

"Ours are a little bit better. I'm going to meet Mrs. Gandhi in Colombo. If you have any message to convey....", Daoud said. "Give her my best regards. I wish we had a man as strong as she in our Cabinet. But actually, we have no quarrel with India now on any particular issue," Kissinger remarked.

Kissinger also used the occasion to take a dig at the non-alignment when Daoud pointed out that a conference is due to be held in Colombo.

"There we will witness quite a few differences between countries regarding the agenda and also important differences between countries. I don't know what the outcome will be," Daoud said.