The Highs and Lows of Pak-US Relations: From the Cold

War to Now
By Ibadullah Shah
The relations between Pakistan and the United States have always been based upon
national interests and America’s dominant power position. While analysing the history of
this relationship, Aamina Binte Khurram argues that since the 1950s, the US has done its
best to influence Pakistan’s foreign and domestic policies and pressurized the state to do
its bidding in the South Asian region. The United States has leveraged Pakistan’s weaker
position, and coerced Pakistani leaders on many occasions. Hence, it comes as no surprise
that the Pakistan-US relationship has been marred with periods of hostility whenever the
interests of the two states have diverged.
The Rocky Pakistan-US Relations
In an ideal world, all relationships are archetypes of Disney love stories: they’re all
sunshine and roses. Partners are respectful of the agency and ambition of one another and
support each other through thick and thin. In real life, however, many relationships,
unfortunately, don’t meet these standards and are built on less-than-ideal frameworks.
Particularly fragile are those relationships where there exists an inequity in decision-
making and authority. When there is an imbalance in the power dynamics of a
relationship, the relationship changes from a true partnership to more of an authoritative
arrangement.
Often, the partner exerting greater influence takes advantage of the limitations and
weaknesses of the other, coercing and influencing them to partake in activities and roles
that benefit the more powerful partner yet harm the subordinated one. This analogy of an
unequal partnership can be applied to the Pak-US relations.
Our nearly seventy-year relationship with the US has been quite tumultuous. At
times, we have seen one another as the closest of friends, and at many others as
unreliable actors who cannot be entrusted with the responsibility of ally-ship. The unique
and intricate Pak-US relations have always been held on a delicate balance between which
country needs the other more and for how long.
Such a fragile balance is easy to break and over the years, it often has broken down.
Yet somehow, like a self-righting toy, it always reconsolidates in one shape or the other.
Cold War: A Period of Consolidation
The saga begins in 1950, when Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan, toured the United
States for an official 23-day visit. This is often seen as the single most significant event that
kicked off Pakistan and US relations, which, for the first few years at least, turned out to be
warm and friendly. Post-partition, the newly found fragile state of Pakistan was looking to
make meaningful partnerships and collaborations in the global arena, which was governed
by the bloc politics of the Cold War.03482351327
 Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan speaking with President Harry S. Truman on his visit to the US (1950).

Initially, the country attempted to stay non-aligned and forge relationships with
both the USSR and the US—the major political actors of the time, and the chief
heavyweights of communism and capitalism, respectively. However, it soon became
apparent that such an approach was unrealistic.
India had garnered the support and ally-ship of the Soviet Union, which was now
providing financial and military aid to Pakistan’s chief enemy in the region. And to the
common Pakistani, the Soviet Union represented all the principles of unfair wealth
distribution they despised. Thus, when Liaqat Ali Khan received the invitation to visit the
US for his first official trip to the country, he immediately accepted and spent the next few
weeks meeting American leaders and the public, introducing them to Pakistan and its
history.
From the time of Liaquat Ali Khan up to 1971, the US and Pakistan enjoyed a
relationship of mutual goodwill. Successive leaders, including the military ones – Ayub
Khan and Yahya Khan – paid visits to the US, and American leaders regarded Pakistan as an
important ally in controlling the expansion of Communist influence. 
Thus, from the very beginning, as is in all international ties, there was something in
it for both parties—economic and military aid for the developing nation, and a military
counterweight to the Soviet Union for the capitalist superpower.
Bhutto and the Strained Pak-US Relations
The first “cracks” in the ice began to appear when Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto became the
president of the country in 1971. His socialist ideas aligned more with communism, and he
was a staunch believer in leftist politics. Bhutto, who later became the prime minister of
Pakistan in 1973, began efforts to make Pakistan non-aligned. The Pak-US relations
became particularly strained during the time of President Jimmy Carter. An anti-socialist,
President Carter tightened embargos on Pakistan and took a hard stance against Bhutto’s
policies and plans.
In response to India’s nuclear program, Pakistan had begun developing a nuclear
weapons program of its own. The United States, instead of recognizing that nuclear arms
were now a matter of life and death for Pakistan as an unfair hegemony in the region had
been established by India, overtly and covertly continued to exert pressure on Pakistan to
forego its nuclear development program, placing multiple sanctions and embargos.
 Post-Bhutto, the Pak-US relations once again began to thaw and when in 1979 the
Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, the US immediately called upon Pakistan as an ally to
aid in fighting against the Soviets. Pakistan was given millions in aid and weapons, all with
the intention of protecting the US’ sphere of influence.
After democracy was restored in Pakistan in 1988, the Pakistan and US relations
once more took a sour turn, under prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, who
were pressured to halt Pakistan’s nuclear deterrence program. At the same time, US-India
ties strengthened. On its part, Pakistan saw the United States as not doing enough to halt
India’s nuclear weapons program, which it regarded as an existential threat.
Post-9/11 Ties
The next defining moment in Pakistan-US relations came after the September 11
attacks. The US once again took Pakistan on board as a major strategic and military ally
against its War on Terror. Despite having been a supporter of the Taliban pre-9/11, the
Pakistani government took a renewed stance on the Taliban, now fighting against it. In this
era of Pakistan-US relation. The US was provided with military assistance in the form of
military bases to further its “anti-terror” operations.
In the last decade or so, there have been two pivotal points in Pakistan-US relations.
The first was when US marines killed Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad in 2011. What
followed was a period of mutual distrust and disdain not just at the governmental level,
but also at the national level, emotions in the public in both nations were running high and
the mistrust of another deepened incredibly.
It seemed as if it would now be impossible to become “friends” again. Yet, like
always, the ice eventually thawed. The second important event is much more recent:
the American withdrawal from Afghanistan after two decades of invasion and
the establishment of the Taliban government in the state. Having always viewed Pakistan
through the prism of Afghanistan, how will the US now advance its relationship with
Pakistan?
It seems as if since losing one of its major points of interest in this region, the US
concern and enthusiasm about its ties with Pakistan as a bilateral partner have
considerably dwindled. Instead, it now recognizes the threat increasing Pakistan-China
cooperation poses to its interests and thus has accelerated its ties with India.
This overview of the Pakistan-US relations demonstrates one important point: ties
between the two countries have always been mercurial and unfortunately, we have often
been at the receiving end of the stick.
Who Dictates What?
The United States has a long history of exerting its influence on Pakistani politics.
This influence can be divided into 2 domains—Pakistan’s foreign relations, and its domestic
policies. In wanting to keep close ties with the United States, Pakistan has often had to
tweak its foreign policy, a prime example of how the sacrifices made in the Pakistan-US
relations have almost always been one-sided.
From not establishing ties with nations the US is not on good terms with (and losing
the chance to forge beneficial ties for itself) to creating partnerships solely for the sake of
appeasing Uncle Sam, our foreign policy, unfortunately, has a long history of clandestine
and sometimes even obvious, US interventions.
Similarly, Pakistan’s domestic politics too have seen their fair share of meddling and
outside influence, as apparent from the recent regime change allegations against the US
amidst the current political crisis in Pakistan. But why would any elected Pakistani ruler
allow themselves to be coerced into making decisions that could potentially harm their
own nation or people?
The answer lies in our dependencies, particularly economic and to some extent our
dependency on superpowers like the US in establishing and extending our own global
legitimacy and sphere of influence. Like it or not, it has often been that what the US says,
goes.

“U.S. Aid to Pakistan” by Statista is licensed under CC BY-ND 4.0

One thing is certain, the Pak-US relations have always been based on divergent
interests, which along with the coercive diplomacy employed by the United States, has
always resulted in a relationship that is unequal in terms of who gets how much of a say. It
seems as if the scales have always tipped in the US’ favor. Why may that be? Well, we
need to remember that our nation needs any and all of the economic reinforcement it can
get.
The US has always expertly leveraged this dependency and employed a kind of
“carrot and stick” approach in getting its demands met. It uses aid packages and programs
as a reward for following its whims and taking away these funds as a punishment.
Therefore, the only way out is by being free of these dependencies. Only when our
economy is a global force to be reckoned with will we be able to afford being treated as an
equal partner in our ties with the most developed countries of the world.