US Presidents visit Pakistan: Sometimes to reduce tensions, sometimes on the pretext of oil in the plane
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President Lyndon Johnson's plane stopped at Karachi airport for just an hour to refuel, but it would not be unreasonable to call it a nominal visit. |
US Presidential Election 2020: From easing regional tensions to refueling, when did US presidents come to Pakistan?
There was a time when Pakistan was once called a close ally of the United States. But in all those years of closeness, only five US presidents considered it necessary to visit Pakistan.
In contrast, India kept itself "neutral" and had closer ties with the Soviet Union, its worst rival than the United States. Despite this, seven US presidents, including President Donald Trump, have visited India so far.
Obviously, neither the political situation nor the national interest remain the same, that is why it is said that in politics there is no permanent enemy and no permanent friend.
Interestingly, the five presidents of the United States, the world's leading democracy, have always chosen to visit Pakistan at a time when the military was in power.
Three US presidents visited Pakistan before 1971, but none of them visited East Pakistan at the time. Two presidents in Karachi, one in Lahore, while two American presidents have visited Islamabad since the break-up of Pakistan.
After the end of World War II in 1945, Britain and other European colonial powers were disappearing into the background, leaving their mark on world politics for more than a century.
In such a situation, on the one hand, the United States, the pioneer of capitalism, began to fill this gap of world leadership, and on the other hand, the Soviet Union, which was aware of communism or communism against capitalism and feudalism, began to increase its influence in the Third World. ۔
This was the beginning of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. Both powers launched programs to ally the least developed countries through economic, military and social development projects, and did not hesitate to openly and behind the scenes interfere in the internal affairs of these countries when necessary.
Pakistan on the chessboard of world politics
Against this background, Pakistan-US relations were tarnished in October 1947.
Although a secret US State Department letter in January 1950 described Soviet communism as the greatest threat to the "free world", it only mentioned Pakistan in reference to the Kashmir dispute with India.
According to a confidential State Department letter from April 1950, "the basic principle of relations with Pakistan is to turn the government and people there towards the United States and other Western democracies and to distance them from the Soviet Union."
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| President Nixon (right) paid a brief visit to Pakistan |
Subsequent events and developments proved that Pakistan is its irreplaceable ally for US interests in South Asia.
But in 1949, the United States preferred India to Pakistan and invited Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to pay an official visit. In response, in June of that year, Russia invited Pakistani Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan to pay an official visit to Moscow. But despite the overwhelming support, he did not go to Moscow.
The reason is still a mystery. Maybe Pakistan had foreseen the future!
Washington was surprised by Moscow's invitation and now it did not hesitate to invite the Pakistani Prime Minister. In May 1950, the first US-Pakistan summit was held in Washington.
In the years that followed, Pakistan signed various bilateral and multilateral defense agreements with the United States and its allies, including the Ceto and Santo.
Karachi first stop
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| Former President Dwight Eisenhower (left) with US President Kennedy |
President Dwight Eisenhower was the first US president to visit South Asia. The US President's official aircraft, Air Force One, landed in Karachi for the first time on December 7, 1959. In this way, Karachi became the first stop of any American president in the region.
According to the State Department's website, Eisenhower's visit to Pakistan was "informal." He was received in October 1958 by General Muhammad Ayub Khan, the military ruler who imposed martial law on the country.
The humility of the official guest was well taken care of. The city was decorated with flags, colorful flags and electric lights of both countries. A fountain of colorful lights dancing to the music was installed near the US President's residence.
On both sides of the 15-mile road from the airport to the Presidency, millions of people were present to greet the distinguished guest with flags in their hands.
The last mile of the journey was set by the two leaders in an open buggy. People around him were enthusiastically chanting slogans of Pak-US friendship, which did not go unnoticed by President Eisenhower.
In a meeting the next day, on December 8, General Ayub Khan left no stone unturned in convincing US President Eisenhower that Pakistan was a free world against Soviet communism, especially a dependable ally of the United States. Is. He called on the US President to provide various types of weapons and ammunition and the need for a US role in resolving the Kashmir issue.
During the meeting, General Ayub asked the US President to warn King Zahir Shah of Afghanistan about the plans of the Soviet Union, according to a report released by the US government. General Ayub also noted the growing tensions between China and Russia, and predicted that China would become a major world power within 30 to 60 years.
In a separate meeting with then-Finance Minister Muhammad Shoaib, President Eisenhower expressed happiness at the opportunity for private investment in Pakistan and said he would return to the United States to encourage people to invest in Pakistan.
President Eisenhower left Karachi on December 9, 1959 and met Shah Zahir Shah in Kabul...
President Eisenhower left Karachi on December 9, 1959 and arrived in Delhi on a visit to India after a brief meeting with Shah Zahir Shah in Kabul.
Between 1953 and 1961, the United States provided more than مل 500 million in aid to Pakistan. Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru complained about this but President Eisenhower assured him that the arms given to Pakistan would not be used against India.
Look at the oil, look at the edge of the oil
On December 23, 1967, President London Johnson's plane stopped at Karachi Airport for just one hour to refuel. It would not be out of place to call it a nominal visit as he was on his way back to Washington after stopping in Australia and Thailand after a tour of East Asia.
In a message sent from Air Force One, he lamented to Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi that time constraints prevented him from meeting her.
Although the Pakistani capital had moved to Islamabad on August 20, 1967, President Ayub was present at the Karachi International Airport on December 23 to receive President Johnson.
This was not Johnson's official visit to Pakistan, but a brief stop on the way, but President Ayub managed to squeeze some economic and military aid from the United States even in that short time. Maybe because of the Cold War, Pakistan used to demand 'Do More' in those days!
"President Johnson briefed me on the practical aspects of the meeting with President Ayub," Walt Whitman Rostov, the US president's national security adviser, wrote in a secret letter about the hour-long meeting at the airport.
"We will immediately look into the possibility of providing additional assistance to Pakistan under PL 480 in the case of edible oil," he said. (PL480 is the basis of USAID's 'Food for Peace' project to various countries.)
"We will immediately look into the possibility of supplying 500,000 tonnes of wheat to Pakistan, of which 400,000 tonnes will be under PL480 and 100,000 tonnes on a commercial basis," he said. The aim is to increase Pakistan's reserves in this generally favorable environment.
"With some effort, President Ayub will be able to store this extra aid," he said.
President Johnson has promised to consider replacing 500 old Sherman tanks with Patton tanks. They have also agreed to sell it through a third country (such as Italy and Turkey). They want us to see if we can do it directly if Sherman is disqualified. Can sell to pakistan
Camel Ray Camel ...
By the way, Pakistan was neither new to President London Johns nor to Pakistanis. He had first visited Pakistan under President John F. Kennedy as a vice president and also as a private.
However, the reason for his fame in Pakistan was a unique event.
In May 1961, when he paid a goodwill visit to Pakistan as Vice President, he was received at Karachi International Airport by President Ayub. The road leading from the airport to the presidential convoy, Drug Road (now Shahra-e-Faisal), was closed to normal traffic. When the presidential convoy reached Karsaz, people saw a strange sight.
The car of the US Vice President stopped suddenly without the scheduled program. There was panic inside the security and diplomatic staff. The crew was trying to understand the situation when US Vice President Johnson got out of the car and walked to the crowd.
In this gathering, Sarban Bashir Ahmed along with his camel car were waiting for the traffic to open.
There is also a tradition that 'Thank You America' banners and placards were put up on the occasion to thank the wheat that the United States has given to Pakistan in the form of aid in previous years. Bashir Sarban also hung a similar plaque around his camel's neck.
Bashir Ahmed was not surprised when US Vice President Lyndon Johnson approached him, shook his hand and, according to Bashir Ahmed's son, asked him: "Will you be my friend?"
In a video released by the US Consulate in Karachi in January 2016, his son says that his father immediately became a supporter of friendship, at which point the US Vice President invited Bashir Sarban to visit the United States.
London Johns accepted the invitation and on October 15, 1961, Bashir Sarban landed at New York Airport as an official guest, where London Johnson greeted him in Urdu with a 'welcome' and said that he had met him very well. Time is up
In response, Bashir Sarban said: "It is time to meet you. I was just waiting for God to meet you. '
In the United States, he toured many places, including New York, Washington, and Texas. Wherever they went, people met Tapak.
Before going to America, he was also trained in Atwar, Sherwanis and Jinnah Cape were arranged for him.
His son says his hat fell off when his father looked up to see the then-tallest building in New York, the Empire State Building.
Bashir Sarban's simplicity can be gauged from the fact that when asked during a television interview in the United States if he had any name for his camel, he laughed out loud and said: "What about the camel, it is a camel, what will be its name?"
During the visit, Bashir Sarban was happy to defeat the US Vice President in a horse race.
Bashir Sarban died on August 15, 1992 in Karachi.
Lahore Lahore a
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| In Lahore, President Nixon gets off a lemon car |
It had been two years since the Pakistani capital was shifted from Karachi to Islamabad. But on August 2, 1969, when the third US President Richard Nixon decided to come to Pakistan, he came to Lahore.
It was only four months since General Yahya took office. President Nixon paid a brief visit to Pakistan. It was a state visit. It was a private meeting between the two heads of state and there is no record of the conversation in US official documents.
However, the impressions of this meeting are indelible on the coming global political scene. To understand its significance, we must go back in time.
US-China hostility
In China, the Chinese Communist Party, led by Chairman Mao, staged a revolution against the nationalist ruler Cheng Kai-shek and established a government in Beijing on October 1, 1949.
Cheng Kai-shek and his thousands of soldiers established a government-in-exile in Taiwan. The United States and Cheng were allies against Japan in World War II. The United States continued to support him in exile. How could communist China be acceptable to him anyway? Thus, the very foundation of US-China relations began with hostility.
The United States has been embroiled in the civil war between Communist North Vietnam and anti-communism South Vietnam since the 1950s (in 1964 it had to jump directly into the war). China was an ally of North Vietnam.
In 1950, the United States sided with South Korea against Communist North Korea, while China sided with North Korea.
In 1954, Cheng Kai-shek's troops captured two islands in the Taiwan Strait. The Chinese army launched attacks on these islands. The United States signed a defense agreement with Cheng's nationalists and threatened to launch a nuclear attack on China in the spring of 1955. In April this year, China agreed to the talks.
In March 1959, a major uprising against the Chinese government broke out in Tibet. The CIA helped arm the movement, which began in the late 1950s.
After the 1965 war, internal political turmoil in Pakistan was growing. President Ayub resigned from the presidency on March 26, 1969 and transferred power to General Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan, the army chief.
The United States, on the other hand, realized that a confrontation with the two major communist powers at the same time was not in its interest. That is why he wants to restore diplomatic relations with China. One of the mutual friends contacted for this purpose was Pakistan.
The same meeting between President Nixon and General Yahya paved the way for the resumption of US-China relations and Nixon's visit to China in 1972, and Pakistan played a key role in bringing the two countries closer after a 20-year cold snap.
When the journalists were fed up
President Nixon's move is known in diplomatic circles as the "Nixon's China Game." It is interesting to note that during the groundwork for President Nixon's visit to China, in July 1971, his National Security Adviser, Henry Kissinger, visited China in the utmost secrecy. Pakistan had played an important role in this mission and no one was aware of it.
In an interview with the American Broadcasting Services (PBS), Kissinger described the secret trip from Islamabad to Beijing as follows: "I planned to visit Asia and avoid the eyes of journalists. Keep your trip as boring as possible. As a result, when I arrived in Islamabad, the impression was that it was a failed visit. The crowd of journalists had dispersed. In the end, only one journalist was left to cover the trip. Yahya Khan invited us to dinner and I fell ill to show off during the meal.
"They told me to go and rest in a place in the mountains (Murree) which they had made for themselves. We announced in the press that I would spend a few days there. We also sent a convoy of cars to show them. In fact, he woke up just before five in the morning and we left.
"We went to the Pakistan Air Force base, where a PIA plane was waiting to take us to Beijing. When I boarded the plane, I was accompanied by the Secret Service, who was always with me at the time. We were confronted by four Chinese in Maoist suits who were sent to China by (Chinese Prime Minister) Chou Enlai. Yes, but we didn't know that. And our Secret Service was as good as it got. "
For the next 30 years after President Nixon, no American president turned to Pakistan.
"It's a kind of neglect, so congratulations to them."
Pak-US relations remained cold during the entire tenure of Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and in the early days of General Zia, who overthrew him and imposed a third martial law on the country.
However, after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, under General Zia-ul-Haq, the two countries became closer again. Western countries, including the United States and Pakistan, gave full support and assistance to the Afghans fighting against the Soviet forces. In 1981, the United States provided Pakistan with a five-year economic and military aid package of more than تین 3 billion. Later in 1986, a package of four billion dollars was given.
As a result of this war, about half a million Afghans were forced to take refuge in Pakistan.
Pakistan openly supported and supported the Afghan refugees and the Mujahideen, but it also came at a heavy price. A series of bombings began in the country in which several hundred people were killed. Pakistan at the time blamed the sabotage on the Afghan intelligence agency KHAD. New heroin was introduced in the country and Kalashnikovs became common.
Religious extremism was promoted to prepare a consignment of Pakistani and foreign "Mujahideen" against the Soviet forces. Thousands of citizens from Arab, Chechen and other Muslim countries settled in the border area of Pakistan. The young Saudi billionaire Osama bin Laden also arrived here at the same time.
The Geneva Accords of April 1988 marked the beginning of the immediate withdrawal of Russian troops from Afghanistan. President General Zia ran the government of the signing Prime Minister Muhammad Khan Junejo under the infamous Eighth Amendment. In August, General Zia was killed in a plane crash, along with several generals and two senior US officials.
In February 1989, Soviet troops had to withdraw after being defeated in Afghanistan. The collapse of the communist Soviet Union had become a graffiti, and in December 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed.
The story of American alienation from Afghanistan is then told in the 2007 film Charlie Wilson's War.
With the withdrawal of Soviet forces, civil war broke out among the Afghan Mujahideen factions. There was a cycle of lawlessness, the lives of ordinary citizens had become unbearable. In response, a Taliban movement led by Mullah Omar began, gradually eliminating the warlords and occupying Kabul in 1996. Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have formally recognized the Taliban government.
The emergence of new nuclear powers
In those 30 years, Pakistan faced various US economic and military sanctions under the Simington Amendment, the Pressler Amendment and the Glenn Amendment.
In May 1998, Pakistan also detonated a nuclear bomb in response to India. US President Bill Clinton imposed more sanctions on Pakistan. According to some economists, Pakistan was in danger of going bankrupt.
Between May and July 1999, the Kargil War broke out between Pakistan and India, which had now become nuclear powers, and US President Bill Clinton had to put pressure on Pakistan and intervene directly to stop it.
This tense situation in the region may have led to the visit of the fourth US President to Pakistan as President Clinton arrived in Islamabad on March 25, 2000, in the last few months of his eight-year rule. He paid a week-long visit to India from March 19 to 25 and stayed in Islamabad for only six hours.
That is the only time in 30 years that an American president has been able to devote so much time to "America-Pakistan long-standing friendship".
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| Tensions escalated during the fourth US president's visit to Pakistan as President Clinton arrived in Islamabad on March 25, 2000, in the last few months of his eight-year rule. |
Earlier, in October 1999, the military overthrew Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's elected government and seized power for the fourth time. And General Pervez Musharraf first became the country's chief executive and later the president.
President Clinton met with President Rafiq Tarar and Chief Executive General Pervez Musharraf, and addressed the Pakistani people live on radio and television. Perhaps the United States was disappointed with the Pakistani leaders.
He started his 14-minute written speech by saying, "Peace be upon you." "It is an honor for me to be the first American president to address the people of Pakistan, and the first president to visit your country in more than 30 years," he said.
In his address, he referred to the long-standing friendship of the United States with Pakistan, Pakistan's role in US-China relations, Pakistan's cooperation against Soviet forces in Afghanistan, the end of the Cold War and Pakistan's cooperation against terrorism. He said: "This is your glorious heritage, our glorious heritage."
He said that at the beginning of the new century, Pakistan could achieve great goals in this new world, but the political situation, economic situation and regional tensions were major obstacles in its path.
Stressing on the importance of democracy, he said that it is difficult to move forward without democracy. And they know that it is neither easy nor perfect.
He said he knew that political regimes had disappointed the people in the past but it was also a fact that democracy could not flourish unless it was given a chance to strengthen its roots.
Referring to the military catastrophe in the country, he said, "The solution to a flawed democracy is not to eradicate it but to improve it." ۔ But the establishment of a democratic political government requires a comprehensive plan.
He stressed the need for action against terrorism, accession to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the CTBT, easing tensions with India and resolving the Kashmir issue through dialogue. He said that he has also talked to India about this.
Interestingly, while talking about the importance of democracy and the Kashmir issue, he mentioned General Musharraf on two different occasions, but the name of civilian President Rafiq Tarar did not appear even once in the entire speech.
President Clinton is said to have told General Musharraf that if Pakistan arrested al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and handed him over to the United States, his country would give Pakistan a huge economic package.
The Do More era
Nine Eleven happened a year and a half after President Clinton's visit. The United States has blamed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, and demanded his extradition from the Taliban government.
Following the Taliban's refusal, President George W. Bush declared war on Afghanistan. Pakistan once again became the need of the United States. General Musharraf's government, taking a 180-degree reversal, decided to sever all ties with the Taliban government and join the so-called US war on terror. In response, President Bush lifted many years of economic sanctions on Pakistan on September 22, 2001.
Dollar rally started in Pakistan. Raw materials for supplies and development work for foreign forces in Afghanistan began to flow from Pakistan. Pakistan extradited hundreds of alleged "terrorists" to the United States in exchange for dollars. It is said that at that time, the US military used to take the Taliban and foreign prisoners in Afghanistan at wholesale prices. Pakistan captured several key al-Qaeda leaders and handed them over to the United States.
Among those extradited to the United States was the Taliban government's ambassador to Pakistan, Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, who sought political asylum in Pakistan after the fall of the Taliban government.
Mullah Zaeef has narrated his story in detail in his book "The Guantanamo Bay" or a picture of Guantanamo in Pashto.
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| US President George W. Bush, like his predecessors, came to Islamabad in March 2006 via India |
In 2004, when I was in Kabul to cover the presidential election, the Pakistani ambassador told me that the French ambassador had come to him at an event and said that this is what your country has done. No ambassador has ever been handed over to the enemy.
This time Pakistan has paid a heavy price for supporting the United States and is still doing so. Adherents of the ideology that Pakistan had vigorously promoted against the Soviet Union in support of the Afghan Mujahideen were unwilling to compromise on objective conditions.
Extremist attacks have erupted in Pakistan, killing thousands of security personnel and civilians. Political leaders, even General Musharraf himself, were targeted. The crop that was sown in the 1980s is still flourishing.
Under these circumstances, President George W. Bush came to Islamabad on March 3-4, 2006. Like his predecessors, he came from India.
In a meeting with military ruler General Pervez Musharraf, he praised Pakistan's role in the war on terror, but also reiterated his call for more (Dow Moore) from Pakistan to defeat al-Qaeda. At that time, there was hardly a meeting between the top officials and the political leadership of the two countries in which the echo of 'Do More' was not heard.
President Bush, like his predecessors, described the virtues of democracy to President Musharraf, who considered military uniforms as his skin, and called for the establishment of a full-fledged democratic government for a bright future for Pakistan.
General Musharraf said that he wanted to see a new era of cooperation between Pakistan and the United States. However, Musharraf did not see any sign of an agreement like the one signed by President Bush with India two days ago. On the contrary, the US President said that "Pakistan and India are different countries with different needs and different histories."
During the more than two-hour summit at the Presidency, US Black Hawk helicopters hovered over the city, with tight security on the ground. Islamabad was closed to all commercial flights.
Anti-US protests have been taking place in the country for weeks. Former cricketer, then-opposition leader and current Prime Minister Imran Khan, who was to lead an anti-US protest rally on the occasion, was arrested a day earlier.
To show a soft spot, President Bush played cricket at the US embassy with Pakistani captain Inzamam-ul-Haq, Salman Butt and a schoolboy. Before playing cricket with a tennis ball, the US president, who is keen on baseball, was taught the basics of cricket like Bashir Sarban. He played a shot on two balls of captain Inzamam-ul-Haq and one hit him on the shoulder. President Bush also tried bowling. When asked if he liked the game, he said: "I don't have the skills at all yet."
At dinner, he entertained the audience by saying that all three of his wickets had fallen on a googly.
Inzamam-ul-Haq said that the US President wanted to know the difference between cricket and baseball.
Pakistan's Google?
President Barack Obama visited Delhi twice in 2010 and 2015 for three days but did not come to Pakistan.
Under him, the warmth in US-Pakistan relations had waned and the impression had grown that Pakistan was playing a double game in Afghanistan, on the one hand it was an ally of the US against the Taliban but on the other Some ex-servicemen are also involved, helping and supporting the Taliban.
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| President Barack Obama visited Delhi twice in 2010 and 2015 for three days but did not come to Pakistan |
Although Taliban leader Mullah Omar died in 2013 in the Afghan province of Zabul, the Taliban's top leadership was believed to be based in Pakistan and Pakistani officials have turned a blind eye to it.
In such a situation, the death of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad in 2011 also eroded the trust of the United States in Pakistan.
Pakistan has always officially denied the allegations, saying it has been cooperating with the United States and the Afghan government.
In his address to the nation on September 19, 2001, General Musharraf defended the decision to side with the United States, specifically mentioning the Hudaybiyyah peace treaty. The treaty apparently showed the weakness of the Muslims of Medina, but later it had far-reaching positive consequences for a fledgling state of Medina.
Pakistan provided all possible assistance to the United States in everything from providing airports and land routes to intelligence, but also kept in touch with the Taliban.
Can the pillars of the peace agreement between the United States and the Taliban, who call themselves the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, be found in General Musharraf's speech in the Qatari capital on February 29, 2020?
Keep an eye out
President Trump accepted Imran Khan's invitation during his visit to Washington in July 2019 and promised to visit Pakistan.
But, of course, its practicality will, as always, depend on how much the United States needs Pakistan, as the level of bilateral relations in international diplomacy determines national interests.
References to goodwill and long-standing friendships are just for the faint of heart.
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