1980-90: Afghanistan and Partnership with the
United States
Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan
The Soviet military intervention in Afghanistan on December 27, 1979 was an event of far-reaching geo-political ramifications. Pakistan viewed this development as a violation of independence and sovereignty of a neighboring, non-aligned, and Muslim state by a superpower. As Pakistan's relations with the Soviet Union were often marred by strains, it felt threatened by the idea of having to put up with a massive Soviet military presence in the neighborhood, dreading direct military pressure or a more active Soviet support to the dissident elements in Baluchistan and NWFP.Pakistan demanded the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan and supported the Afghan groups, described as Afghan Mujahideen, in their bid to dislodge the Soviets from Afghanistan. It allowed them to function from Pakistani territory and accommodated over 3 million Afghan refugees who poured into Pakistan within a year of Soviet military intervention in Afghanistan.
Revival of Pakistan-U.S. Relations
The Afghanistan war proved a turning point in Pakistan-U.S. relations which moved from the lowest point of 1979 to close political, economic and security ties in the 1980s. The U.S. offered two packages of economic assistance and military sales to support Pakistan's role in the war against the Soviet troops in Afghanistan. Some additional assistance was provided outside of these packages. The first six-year assistance package (1981-87) amounted to US $ 3.2 billion, equally divided between economic assistance and military sales. The U.S. also sold 40 F-16 aircraft to Pakistan during 1983-87 at a cost of US $ 1.2 billion outside the assistance package. Pakistan paid this amount in cash partly from its resources and partly from the funds provided by friendly Arab states. The second six-year assistance package (1987-93) amounted to US $ 4.2 billion. Out of this US $ 2.28 billion were allocated for economic assistance in the form of grants or loan that carried the interest rate of 2-3 per cent. The rest of the allocation (US $ 1.74 billion) was in the form of credit for military purchases. The new relationship with the U.S. increased its presence and influence in Pakistan and the latter developed close ties with the U.S. Central Command (Centcom) without formally joining it. Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) worked together in passing on weapons, military training and financial support to Afghan resistance groups. They encouraged the volunteers from the Arab states to join the Afghan resistance in its struggle against the Soviet troops based in Afghanistan. Despite a close Pakistan-U.S cooperation on Afghanistan, they diverged on Pakistan's nuclear programme, although the United States downplayed this issue and ignored Pakistan's stride in the nuclear field in order to keep Pakistan on board for the Afghan war.
Pakistan-China Relations
Pakistan-China relations maintained their steady march towards greater cordiality and a wide ranging cooperation in various fields. China extended full support to Pakistan in its interaction with India and endorsed Pakistan's position on the Afghanistan crisis. The barter trade through the Karakoram Highway expanded and China assisted Pakistan in agriculture, nuclear technology, power generation and heavy industry, especially the defense-related industry.
Pakistan and the OIC
Pakistan maintained cordial relations with the Muslim states which extended support at the bilateral level and through the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) to Pakistan on
the Afghanistan issue. Some of the Muslim countries donated cash and goods for helping the Afghan refugees living in Pakistan. New agreements for expansion of trade, promotion of economic and technological cooperation, and establishment of joint economic commissions were signed with several Islamic countries. A major problem faced by Pakistan in its relations with the Muslim world was that it got identified with conservative, monarchical and pro-U.S. regimes in the Middle East and its relations cooled off with radical and nationalist states like Libya, Syria and Iraq.
Pakistan-India: a policy of Dialogues
Pakistan-India relations were marked by the simultaneous pursuance of positive and negative interaction. There were periods of goodwill and relative harmony but these were short-lived. However, the redeeming feature of their diplomacy was that they never stopped talking on the 19 contentious issues. Whenever there was a downward slide a standoff in their relations, Pakistan or India took the initiative to revive the dialogue. There was more interaction between the two states in the 1980s than was the case in the past which kept their difference and problem within manageable limits. Two visits of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi to Pakistan in December 1988 for participation in the SAARC summit conference and an official visit in July 1989 resulted in considerable improvement in their relations but the goodwill generated by these visits did not last long.
The Geneva Accords on Afghanistan
The search for a negotiated settlement of the Afghanistan crisis proved a long drawn affair. The UN Secretary General's representative initiated peace talks between Pakistan and Afghanistan in 1982 in order to find a solution to the four interrelated aspects of the Afghanistan problem, viz, withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan, nonintervention and non-interference in Afghanistan’s internal affairs, international guarantees for non-intervention and non-interference, and the return of Afghan refugees to their homes in safety and honor. It was not until April 1988 that Pakistan and Afghanistan, along with the United States and the Soviet Union, signed four documents, popularly known as the Geneva Accords, which outlined the principles for the peaceful resolution of the Afghanistan problem. The Soviets began withdrawal of their troops from Afghanistan on the stipulated date, i.e. May 15, 1988, but the withdrawal did not proceed smoothly. The Afghan resistance groups attacked the withdrawing Soviet troops which caused an angry Soviet response, charging Pakistan with master-minding these attacks. The Soviet Union retaliated by stepping up air and ground attacks on Pakistani territory. The completion of Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan on February 15, 1989 removed a major irritant in Pakistan's
relations with the Soviet Union. The Soviet Foreign Minister, Eduard Shevardnadze, undertook his first-ever visit to Islamabad in February 1989 to explore the prospects of a new beginning in their relations. However, they continued to diverge in the subsequent years on the intra-Afghan strife and the return of Soviet POWs with the resistance groups.
Post-withdrawal Problems
The post-withdrawal problems, especially an intra-Afghan settlement, haunted the interested parties to the Afghanistan crisis. The failure to resolve these problems dissuaded the Pakistan-based refugees from returning to Afghanistan. It soon became crystal clear that Pakistan would continue to host them for a long time. Pakistan made various attempts to install a new government in Kabul comprising pro-Pakistan Mujahideen groups. The U.S. shifted its interest from Afghanistan after the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan and left Pakistan alone to cope with the intra-Afghan conflict and a pro-Soviet government in Kabul. It also reduced its assistance for Afghan refugees in Pakistan. In October 1990, U.S. President George Bush (senior) refused to certify that Pakistan did not possess a nuclear explosive device, triggering the imposition of sanctions against Pakistan under the Pressler Amendment (1985) in the Foreign Assistance Act. This disrupted the second assistance package offered in 1987 and discontinued economic assistance and military sales to Pakistan with the exception of the economic assistance on way to Pakistan. Military sales and training programme were abruptly disrupted and some of the Pakistani military officers under training in the U.S. were asked to return home.

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