Pakistan–United States relations began shortly after the independence of Pakistan. The United States recognized Pakistan on August 15, 1947, becoming one of the first countries to establish formal diplomatic relations with the new state. Bilateral relations have historically been marked by periods of close military cooperation followed by periods of strain, resulting in what has been called a "roller coaster" relationship.
Despite its troubled history, the Pakistani military has played an important role in several phases of American geopolitical strategy, and has been a major non-NATO ally since 2002. After Pakistan's participation in the Afghan peace process and the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan in 2021, the United States' relations with Pakistan underwent a strained period. At the same time, the strategic convergence of the United States and India has also brought greater pressure on Pakistani diplomacy. Relations showed signs of improvement during the early years of Donald Trump's second presidential term, particularly in trade and security cooperation.
Background
During the Cold War (1945–1991), Pakistan allied itself with the Western Bloc led by the United States against the Eastern Bloc led by the Soviet Union, with the former advocating the economic system of capitalism while the latter advocated socialism. Following the 1958 Pakistani military coup, president Muhammad Ayub Khan established a strong military alliance with the United States. During the Bangladesh Liberation War and the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, the United States aided Pakistan against the Provisional Government of Bangladesh and India. After the Pakistani defeat, Pakistan's leader Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, an anti-American, improved relations with the Soviets. In 1977, Bhutto was overthrown in a military coup led by Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq. Following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, Pakistan and the United States cooperated in the funding and financing of the anti-communist Afghan Mujahideen and then in the ensuing First Afghan Civil War. The United States has imposed sanctions on Pakistan on various occasions to force Pakistan to comply with its strategic interests since 1965, with Pakistan's willingness to participate with the United States in the wars in Somalia and Bosnia, relations improved. However, the United States again suspended aid and imposed sanctions along with India in 1998, only to be lifted once again with the United States engagement in Afghanistan in 2001. Factors involving in the contingency operations, distrust, and different priorities of both nations in the Afghan War led to serious criticism as both sides began to criticize each other's strategy to achieve common goals in the war on terror. The United States continues to blame Pakistan's military for supporting non-state actors, including the Taliban. Furthermore, drone strikes by both nations, a friendly fire incident at Salala, and an incident involving the arrest of a spy in Lahore further complicated relations for the worse.
Third-party factors in Pakistan–U.S. relations
The U.S.'s troubled relationship with Pakistan continues to be eroded by crisis after crisis. It has been alleged that the ISI of Pakistan pays journalists to write articles hostile to the United States in the early 2010s.Jeffrey Goldberg and Marc Ambinder, The Ally From Hell The Atlantic December 2011 Despite this, both Pakistan and the United States continue to seek a productive relationship to defeat terrorist organizations in the war on terror. But in recent years, "Islamabad has arguably lost some of its strategic significance in the West following the US/NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan". Pakistan once provided NATO with a supply route to Afghanistan, a link that dominated bilateral relations during the war. However, with the end of the war and the withdrawal of US troops from the region in the early 2020s, Pakistan's influence on the US disappeared and the US no longer needed it to engage with Afghanistan.
Pakistan's decades-long rivalry and conflict with the U.S. strategic partner 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 U.S.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on 14 January 2026 that countries that do business with Iran will face a new 25% tariff. This includes Pakistan which imports 7% of Iran's goods to as of 2023.
Diaspora There are an estimated 554,202 self-identified Pakistani Americans living in the United States and about 52,486 Americans residing in Pakistan. In addition, Pakistan also hosts one of the largest embassies of the United States in Islamabad, and the largest consulate-general, in terms of both personnel and facilities, in the city of Karachi.
History 1947–1958: Relations between the United States and the newly-independent state
Following Pakistan's creation from the British Indian Empire, the nascent state struggled to position itself as a non-aligned member of the international community. Pakistan's pro-communist forces commanded considerable support in East Pakistan, while in West Pakistan, the pro-Soviet Pakistan Socialist Party remained largely marginalized. The pro-American Pakistan Muslim League dominated much of West Pakistan's political landscape, particularly in the prosperous region of Punjab, while its base of support in East Pakistan was far more modest.
Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan, however, attempted to establish friendly relations with both the Soviet Union and the United States in hopes that Pakistan could benefit from an alliance with both superpowers. Both the Military of Pakistan and Foreign Service of Pakistan raised doubts as to whether the Soviets had the political will and capacity to provide military, technical, and economic aid to a similar degree that they had begun to offer to Pakistan's socialist neighbor, India. Pakistan nevertheless requested military aid from the USSR, which was predictably rebuffed as the Soviet Union had previously oriented itself with India. The government's overtures to the Soviet Union were not favorably regarded by Pakistan's conservative middle classes, who regarded the USSR as an atheist and socialist ally of India.
In 1950, the United States extended an overture to Pakistan by inviting Prime Minister Khan for an official state visit. As the USSR had rebuffed capitalist Pakistan and aligned itself with Pakistan's rivals, the country's policy crafters found that maintaining friendly relations with both superpowers was impossible. Prime Minister Khan accepted the American invitation and paid an official 23-day state visit to the United States beginning on May 3, 1950. The event was highly politicized in Pakistan, and outraged the country's leftists, and was seen as the seminal event that lead to warm diplomatic ties for several decades. However, it is alleged that during PM Khan's first visit to the US, president Truman requested Pakistan's premier to let the CIA formulate a base in Pakistan, strictly to keep an eye on the activities of Soviet Union – a request which was not granted by Khan.
Throughout the period between 1950 and 1953, several major Pakistan political and military figures paid visits to the United States. During this time, Army commander Ayub Khan paid visits to the United States – a figure who would later institute a strongly pro-American military government. Foreign Minister Sir Muhammad Zafrullah Khan, Foreign Secretary Ikram-Ullah Khan, Finance Minister Malik Ghulam Muhammad, and Defense Secretary Iskandar Mirza all paid official state visits to the United States.
Defense ties between the two countries strengthened almost immediately following Khan's visit to the United States. Personal goodwill towards Pakistan was evident even when Liaqat Ali Khan was assassinated in 1951. Under the government of Khawaja Nazimuddin, Pakistani and American officials developed positive attitudes towards one another. Such personal goodwill was evident when Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, while arguing for wheat aid to Pakistan in 1953, told the sub-committee on Agriculture and Forestry during hearings that, "the people of Pakistan had a splendid military tradition," and that in Karachi he had been met by a guard of honour which was the "finest" he had ever seen". Close ties between the countries were further consolidated by a mutual defense treaty signed in May 1954, after which hundreds of Pakistani military officers began to regularly train in the United States. A U.S. Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) was also established in Rawalpindi, then capital of Pakistan. Pakistani officers were not only trained in military tactics, but also taught leadership, management, and economic theory.
In 1956, President Dwight Eisenhower requested permission from Pakistan's new Prime Minister, Huseyn Suhravardie, to lease the Peshawar Air Station (PAS), which was to be used in intelligence gathering of Soviet intercontinental ballistic missiles. The request was granted, and soon the United States built an airstrip, command and control station at the site before initiating operations. The base was regarded as top-secret, and even the high-ranking Pakistani public officials such as Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, were refused entry to the facility.
American interest in Pakistan as an ally against the spread of communism primarily was focused on maintaining excellent ties with Pakistan's military establishment. Prime Minister Huseyn Suhrawardy paid several official visits to the United States – typically with his Army commander, Ayub Khan, at his side. After a military coup d'état in 1958, Ayub Khan argued that left wing activists could seize power in Pakistan, thereby jeopardizing American interests in the region. He successfully convinced American officials that the Pakistani military was the strongest and most capable institution to govern the country.
Cold War era (1954–1989) Mutual defense alliances and the Soviet-Afghan War As Pakistan sided with the Western Bloc against the Soviet Union in the 1950s, the bilateral alliance grew stronger. The two countries signed the Mutual Defence Assistance Agreement in May 1954, opening the door for significant military and financial support from the United States. Pakistan's integration was strengthened when it formally joined the US-sponsored Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) and Central Treaty Organization (CENTO) alliances. A later Bilateral Agreement of Cooperation, signed in 1959, gave Washington access to military installations in Pakistan. Notably, this agreement permitted the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to run a U-2 spy plane reconnaissance base from Peshawar in order to monitor on Soviet activity.
The alliance reached its most crucial stage after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979. Facing a shared threat, the Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan administrations bypassed existing nuclear proliferation sanctions to fund a massive covert operation alongside Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). Throughout the 1980s, they worked together to finance, arm, and train anti-communist Afghan mujahideen to resist Soviet occupation under Operation Cyclone.
1954 Mutual Defence Pact: Established the Pakistan Armed Forces' basic military hardware supply pipelines. U-2 Reconnaissance Base (1956): CIA used facilities in Peshawar until the 1960 U-2 shootdown incident in 1960. Operation Cyclone (1979–1989): A multibillion-dollar joint pipeline run through Pakistan to fund the Afghan resistance.
21st century relations
September 2001 and after