The military relations between Pakistan and the United States have been present since the two established diplomatic relations in 1947.[1] The United States and Pakistan's military have historically close ties and it was once called "America's most allied ally in Asia" by Dwight D. Eisenhower,[2] reflecting shared interests in security and stability in South Asia, Central Asia as well as in regions covering Eastern Europe.[3]
While Pakistan had close security cooperation with the United States during the Cold War, as the United States canceled all military aid to Pakistan in the 2010s,[4] Pakistan increasingly turned to military cooperation with China.[5] After the U.S. withdraws from Afghanistan, Pakistani military strengthens alliance with the Chinese People's Liberation Army,[6] Pakistan “increasingly sourced from China, especially the higher-end combat strike and power projection capabilities; and Pakistan continues to retire older U.S. and European origin platforms”.[7]
In 1955, after Prime Minister Huseyn Suhrawardy established nuclear power to ease of the electricity crises, with U.S. offering grant of US$350,000 to acquire a commercial nuclear power plant.[8] Following this year, the PAEC signed an agreement with counterpart, the United States Atomic Energy Commission, where the research on nuclear power and training was started initially by the United States. During the 1960s, the U.S. opens doors to Pakistan's scientists and engineers to conduct research on leading institutions of the U.S., notably ANL, ORNL, and LLNL. In 1965, Abdus Salam went to U.S. and convinced the U.S. government to help establish a national institute of nuclear research in Pakistan (PINSTECH) and a research reactor Parr-I. The PINSTECH building was designed by leading American architect Edward Durrell Stone; American nuclear engineer Peter Karter designed the reactor, which was then supplied by the contractor American Machine and Foundry. Years later, the U.S. helped Pakistan to acquire its first commercial nuclear power plant, Kanupp-I, from GE Canada in 1965. All this nuclear infrastructure was established by the U.S. throughout the 1960s, as part of the congressional Atoms for Peace program.
This was changed after Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and democratic socialists under him decided to build nuclear weapons for the sake of their national security and survival. In 1974, U.S. imposed embargo and restriction on Pakistan to limit its nuclear weapons program. The ban was lifted in early 1975, a decision that was protested by the government of Afghanistan.[9] In the 1980s, the American concerns of Pakistan's role in nuclear proliferation eventually turned out to be true after the exposure of nuclear programs of Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia and Libya. Although the atomic program was effectively peaceful and devoted for economical usage, the nuclear policy change in the 1970s and till the present, with Pakistan maintaining its program as part of the strategic deterrence.
In the 1980s, the plan to recognize national security concerns and accepting Pakistan' assurances that it did not intend to construct a nuclear weapon, Congress waived restrictions (Symington Amendment) on military assistance to Pakistan. In October 1980, a high-level delegation and CMLA General Zia-ul-Haq travels to U.S., first meeting with former president Richard Nixon.[10] Although, the meeting was to discuss the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Nixon made it clear he is in favor of Pakistan gaining nuclear weapons capability, while correcting that he is not in a race for the presidential elections. The following year, Agha Shahi made it clear to Alexander Haig that Pakistan "won't make a compromise" on its nuclear weapons program, but assured the U.S. that the country had adopted the policy of deliberate ambiguity, refraining itself to conduct nuclear tests to avoid or create divergence in the relations.
In March 1986, the two countries agreed on a second multi-year (FY 1988–93) $4-billion economic development and security assistance program. On October 1, 1990, however, the United States suspended all military assistance and new economic aid to Pakistan under the Pressler Amendment, which required that the President certify annually that Pakistan "does not possess a nuclear explosive device."
India's decision to conduct nuclear tests in May 1998 and Pakistan's response set back US relations in the region, which had seen renewed US interest during the second Clinton Administration. A presidential visit scheduled for the first quarter of 1998 was postponed and, under the Glenn Amendment, sanctions restricted the provision of credits, military sales, economic assistance, and loans to the government.
Since 1998, the governments of both countries have started an intensive dialogue on nuclear nonproliferation and security issues. First meeting took place in 1998 between Foreign Secretary Shamshad Ahmad and Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott to discuss the issues focusing on CTBT signature and ratification, FMCT negotiations, export controls, and a nuclear restraint regime.[11] The October 1999 overthrow of the democratically elected Sharif government triggered an additional layer of sanctions under Section 508 of the Foreign Appropriations Act which includes restrictions on foreign military financing and economic assistance. US Government assistance to Pakistan was limited mainly to refugee and counter-narcotics assistance."[12] At the height of the nuclear proliferation case in 2004, President George Bush delivering a policy statement at the National Defense University, President Bush proposed to reform the IAEA to combat the nuclear proliferation, and said: “No state under investigation for proliferation violations should be allowed to serve on the IAEA Board of Governors – or on the new special committee. And any state currently on the Board that comes under investigation should be suspended from the Board.”[13]
Bush's proposal was seen as targeted against Pakistan, which is an influential member of IAEA since the 1960s and serves on the Board of Governors; it did not receive attention from other world governments. In 2009, Pakistan has repeatedly blocked the Conference on Disarmament (CD) from implementing its agreed program of work, despite severe pressure from the major nuclear powers to end its defiance of 64 other countries in blocking international ban on the production of new nuclear bomb-making material, as well as discussions on full nuclear disarmament, the arms race in outer space, and security assurances for non-nuclear states.[14] The Chairman Joint Chiefs General Tariq Majid justified Pakistan's action and outline the fact that atomic deterrence against a possible aggression was a compulsion, and not a choice for Pakistan.[15] He further justified that "a proposed fissile material cutoff treaty would target Pakistan specifically.[16]
In the end years of the 2001, the United States provided material and training assistance to Pakistani military in guarding its nuclear material, warheads, and protection of its weapon-testing laboratories that United States paid for almost $US100 million. The assistance program, maintained through the United States Department of Defense (DoD) and the Pakistan's Ministry of Defence (MoD), included providing the knowledge on building the night-vision devices (NVD), supplying helicopters, and nuclear detection equipment.[17] With the United States' assistance, Pakistan established the National Command Authority (NCA) on the line of U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and uses its Megaport Program at the Port Qasim in Karachi which it deployed the radiation monitoring and imaging equipment monitored by a Pakistani central alarm station.[18] In 2007, the United States offered the Permissive Action Link (PAL) technology, for locking its nuclear devices, which Pakistan turned down— possibly because it feared the secret implanting of "dead switches".[19]
According to the U.S. defense officials, Pakistan has developed its own technology based on the PAL technology, and the U.S. military officials have stated they believe Pakistan's nuclear arsenals to be well secured.[20] [21]
In addition, the Department of Energy's Federal Protective Forces (ProFor) has provided training to its counterpart the Strategic Plans Division Force (SPD Force) at its "Pakistan Centre of Excellence for Nuclear Security (PCENS)" that is also modeled on the Federal Protective Force.[22] [23] [24]
On December 10, 2012, the Assistant Secretary for Arms Control, Verification, and Compliance Rose Gottemoeller and Additional Secretary for United Nations and Economic Coordination Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry co-chaired the Pakistan-U.S. Security, Strategic Stability, and Nonproliferation (SSS&NP) Working Group in Islamabad. Gottemoeller traveled to Pakistan after former Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran wrote in an article that, "Pakistan had moved its nuclear doctrine from minimum deterrence to second strike capability and expanded its arsenal to include tactical weapons that can be delivered by short-range missiles like the Hatf-IX.[25] The meeting ended with an agreement on continuing dialogue on a range of issues related to the bilateral relationship, including international efforts to enhance nuclear security and peaceful applications of nuclear energy.[26]
During the 20 years of the War on terror in Afghanistan, the Pakistani administration under then-President Pervez Musharraf, had made its army airbases and the Air Force bases available to the United States military, which were used mainly for the logistics, intelligence gathering, and also as relief efforts.[27] [28] In 2017, the Pakistani government admitted that there are no American military bases in Pakistan.[29]
| Base | Location | Use | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Formerly known as the Peshawar Air Station, this was a former U.S. Air Force Security Service listening post, used by the 6937th Communications Group from 17 July 1959 until its closure in 7 January 1970. The base was used for intelligence gathering operations and radio transmission intercepts relating to the Soviet Union and the Eastern bloc under the Russian management] At one point, there were 800 personnel and 500 supporting staff stationed at the base.[30] The U.S. Air Force pilot, Captain Gary Powers, who was shot down and captured in the Soviet Union during the 1960 U-2 incident, took off from this base for his spy mission. | |||
| A private airfield leased by the Abu Dhabi royal family for hunting trips to Pakistan. The UAE, under Pakistani government authorization, sub-leased it to the Central Intelligence Agency and United States Air Force (USAF) on 20 October 2001.[31] The base was exclusively used to conduct drone operations in northwest Pakistan, and housed several U.S. military personnel. The civilian contractor, the Blackwater, was also involved in these operations.[32] The CIA and USAF jointly developed the airfield, constructing two permanent and one portable hangars for housing drones, in addition to support and residential facilities as well as resurfacing of the asphalt runway. Amid its controversial exposure, the United States ceased its drone operations from Shamsi in 2011. However, it continued using Shamsi airfield for logistics and emergency landings.[33] In November 2011, Pakistan ordered the eviction of U.S. personnel from the airbase in response to the Salala incident which heightened diplomatic tensions. Subsequently, the U.S. ceased its use of the base.[34] | |||
| Located in northern Sindh near the border with Balochistan, the U.S. military had exclusive use of the airbase since at least 2002 to coordinate operations in Afghanistan.[35] The base was also originally used for CIA drone operations in northwest Pakistan. According to sources, CIA drones were operated from this base "for some years". In 2001, around 250 U.S. Marines were stationed here for search-and-rescue operations.[36] As of 2010, around 50 American military personnel were stationed here in an inner cordon "US-only area" while the outer protective layer was under Pakistan Army control. | |||
| A public airport used by the U.S. since at least 2002 as a base to support Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. The base was used to aid logistical support and intelligence operations in Afghanistan. It was also used as a refueling base for U.S. helicopters.[37] | |||
| A commercial airport used by the U.S. since at least 2002 to support Operating Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. During early 2002, over a dozen U.S. military helicopters were stationed at Pasni. As of July 2006, the airport was still under the use of U.S. forces, with U-2 reconnaissance aircraft stationed here.[38] | |||
| A base with permanent U.S. military presence, used for handling U.S. logistics and movements in relation to the war in Afghanistan. During the 2005 Kashmir earthquake, 300 American troops as well as U.S. aircraft were deployed here to aid in relief efforts. | |||
| Previously used for US military logistical operations in Afghanistan. The base did not feature a permanent presence, although the Pentagon is said to have been provided access to use the base "as and when". | |||
| A Pakistan Army Aviation Corps airbase. An anonymous source described the facility as a "big helipad". During the 2010 Pakistan floods, U.S. CH-46 Sea Knight, CH-47 Chinook and UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters were stationed here for relief efforts.[39] | |||
| Occasionally used by U.S. forces as transit point while deploying to other locations. | |||
| Occasionally used by U.S. forces as transit point and logistics depot while material await Afghanistan transfer. |
Between 2004 and 2018, the United States military attacked thousands of targets in northwest Pakistan using unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) operated by the United States Air Force under the operational control of the Central Intelligence Agency. Most of these attacks were on targets in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (now part of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province) along the Afghan border in northwest Pakistan.[40]
The military establishments of the two countries have cooperated to take action against militant groups involved in the wars in Afghanistan and Bosnia, although there is no consensus on issues such as dealing with the Taliban.[41] The Pakistan Army and Pakistan Air Force regularly engage in joint exercises with their American counter interservices, while the Pakistan Navy and the Pakistan Marines is the second most consistent participant in Combined Task Force 150 and Combined Task Force 151 after the United States Navy.[42]
Since 1956, the U.S. military personnel have served in the Pakistani military as military advisers and Pakistani military cadets have consistently attended the coveted U.S. military academies and war colleges.[43] After the Trump administration prevented Pakistan's access to the International Military Education and Training (IMET) plan, the U.S. military later claimed to be restart the program with Pakistani military,[44] but it has never been restored due to the COVID-19 epidemic and other reasons.[45]
In 2022, the United States conducted a combat control parameters exercise with Pakistan— Exercise Falcon Talon.[46] This was the first military exercise between United States Air Force and the Pakistan Air Force since 2019.[46]
See main article: Pakistan–United States skirmishes, Allegations of a support system in Pakistan for Osama bin Laden and Pakistan and state-sponsored terrorism. Pakistan's conflict with India in the context of Kashmir and all-weather strategic cooperation with China in the context of great power competition between the United States and China poses difficulties for the country's efforts to improve relations with the United States.[47] [48] [49] The trust deficit between the United States and Pakistan has grown increasingly severe in recent years, with Pakistan significantly reducing its reliance on past U.S. economic and military aid by establishing strategic partnerships with other world powers such as China.[50]
Under the Trump administration, the U.S. State Department accused Pakistan of failed to respond to terrorist networks operating on its soil, and terminated all military aid to Pakistan.[51]
The US Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) already added Pakistani companies on a US trade blacklist for their alleged involvement in missile and nuclear activities, making it difficult for these companies to do business internationally.[52]
Pakistan protests 'erroneous' US sanctions on Chinese firms over missile program allegations after the US sanctions 4 firms involved in Pakistan's ballistic missile program.[53]