Decades of Diplomacy: Unraveling the Complex Tapestry of Pakistan-US Relations

Decades of Diplomacy: Unraveling the Complex Tapestry of Pakistan-US Relations

 Their long-standing, unstable connection is utterly at odds with the present anti-American movement in Pakistan, which is being fostered and utilized by a segment of the political spectrum as well as expressed in public outbursts.

This hostility is also quite ironic because the father of the nation, who understood that the power vacuum left by the UK leaving the region would eventually be filled by America and that since Pakistan was a legatee of western colonialism therefore its natural association would be with the western bloc, greatly favored the policy of associating Pakistan with the western world. As a result, Pakistan joined security alliances established by the US as early as 1954 and formally accepted its membership in the larger Western alliance system in South and Central Asia due to its urgent strategic demands.

Mutual interests have kept the 1950s-era friendship alive throughout its topsy-turvy course up to the present.

With the intention of halting the spread of communism with the aid of US military and financial assistance, Pakistan signed the Mutual Defense Assistance Agreement (MDAA) with the US in 1954, joined SEATO in September of that same year, and joined the later-named CENTO a year later. In this regard, Pakistan received military assistance from the US and received weapons systems that were not necessary but were very valuable to Pakistan, increasing its defense potential and paving the way for the bolstering of its armed forces, enabling it to defend itself from any misadventures by its belligerent neighbor.

For the first ten years, the relationship was in rather good shape. According to current data, the US provided Pakistan with $4 billion in military aid during the years 1964 and 1965. In addition, the US gave Pakistan an additional $15.7 billion in economic aid, and several American consultants visited Pakistan to help lead initiatives in a variety of areas.

Pakistan did gain from the US's provision of military equipment and the numerous, mostly free military training programs. With Pakistan serving as an air base from which US spy planes performed strategic reconnaissance flights over Russia and China, Pakistan in turn served as a bulwark against the rise of communism. The Soviet Union declared war on Pakistan when an American U-2 espionage plane flying from a Pakistani air base was shot down.

After World War II, the Soviet Union adopted a policy towards Pakistan that viewed the country's relationship with the United States as an act of hostility. Unsurprisingly, the USSR sided with India and vowed to use its veto power to block any real execution of the UN Resolution calling for the holding of a referendum on the Indian-occupied territory of Jammu and Kashmir. This animosity persisted for a very long period, and even now, ties with Pakistan and Russia, the former Soviet Union's successor, are not what one would call perfect.

The US imposed bans on the shipment of American military gear to both India and Pakistan during the 1965 Pak-India conflict, which was the first significant obstacle in the US-Pakistan alliance. Once American military equipment deliveries ceased, Pakistan faced severe challenges, and the Pakistani government responded by cutting ties with the US. Even if the American embargo may be justified when the Agreement's small language is taken into account, it is still difficult to understand why the Americans took such action while Pakistan was being attacked by a nation that, despite its nonalignment status, was firmly ensconced in the Soviet camp and the communist camp.

The US decision may also have something to do with Pakistan's previous diplomatic refusal to join the US in a coalition during the Vietnam War; the arms embargo, which was put into place in 1965, may have been implemented as retaliation for Pakistan's Vietnam policy.

The Pakistani-American connection was dormant after 1965 until the 1980s, when it entered a period that lasted for over ten years. Pakistan deliberately allied with the US and Saudi Arabia in this situation to drive out the Soviet soldiers from Afghanistan.

The Soviet Union was worn down as a result of this active cooperation; after suffering a military setback, it was forced to leave Afghanistan by 1988. Furthermore, the Soviet Union's misguided Afghan policy's financial cost to the USSR contributed significantly to its dissolution in 1990. In this context, the US gave roughly $3 billion to extremists in Afghanistan while also giving Pakistan $9.2 billion in economic aid and $3.8 billion in military aid.

This cooperation also had the advantage of allowing America to ignore Pakistan's nuclear weapons development as long as the Soviet adventure in Afghanistan was ongoing. On the other hand, Pakistan had to deal with the ongoing burden of hosting more than three million Afghan refugees, as well as being exposed to the drug and gun culture that the refugees brought with them. As a result, violent crime rates rose dramatically across the nation. The growth of militancy and eventual formation of Al-Qaeda, which became a very troublesome issue both within Pakistan and overseas, was a key legacy of this phase of the partnership.

A major source of discontent that is still causing issues for Pakistan is the mushrooming of the Taliban and a number of offshoot organizations both within Pakistan and outside that used religion to justify bloodshed and acts of terrorism.

After a ten-year absence to deal with the lingering effects of the Afghan jihad, America returned to Pakistan in response to the destruction caused by extremist organizations.

In this phase, which began in 2001, Pakistan became America's largest non-NATO ally in the battle against terrorism. In order to do this, Pakistan granted the US unrestricted access to Karachi's main port and an air corridor via which it could launch airstrikes on the Taliban in Afghanistan.

During the war on terror, which lasted until 2021, Pakistan received financial support mostly in the form of $30 billion in reimbursements under the categories of economic assistance, military aid, and Coalition Support Fund. It must be remembered that preserving this partnership came at a very high cost, with more than 70,000 Pakistani civilians dying in the conflict and over $120 billion in income losses across all categories.

It is obvious that Pakistan has not reaped the full benefits of its partnership with America. The relationship remained transactional throughout its duration, kept on edge by a lack of mutual trust. The recent US pullout from Afghanistan has made it more difficult for Pakistan and the US to understand one another since the Americans are now blaming Pakistan for the failure of their Afghan strategy, despite the fact that Pakistan had nothing to gain from refusing to work with them.

Pakistan has always had a tight relationship with the US, yet despite this, it remains a relatively weak nation plagued by several issues. The US policy makers are adopting an anti-Pakistan stance that is detrimental to the country rather than acknowledging the issues faced by Pakistan.