There is renewed bonhomie between the United States and Pakistan and relations between both countries are growing once again. The approval by America of a whopping 450 million US dollars F-16 fighter jet fleet sustainment program to Pakistan is a testimony to this. Importantly, Pakistan’s closeness with the US increased after former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan was ousted from power. Notably, he had blamed the US for his ouster from power for visiting Moscow in the midst of the Russia - Ukraine war.


In the wake of the unprecedented fall in investment by China in China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), as the latter is also facing economic turmoil, Pakistan needed economic power to sustain its economic crisis. The big turn into the Pakistan-US relation took just after the killing of al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri, who was killed in a US drone attack in Kabul in August 2022. Soon after the attack, the Taliban said that Pakistan allowed US drones to use its airspace to access Afghanistan.

Surprisingly, after the killing of Ayman al-Zawahiri, Pakistan, who was struggling to get a loan from the International Monetary Fund for months, was given approval immediately by IMF. This happened when Pakistan’s Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa was in the US. Also, during his next visit to the US in October 2022, the US Secretary of Defence Lloyd J Austin hosted an enhanced honour cordon for Bajwa in the Pentagon. Notably, as per various reports, Pakistan is reportedly providing weapons to Ukraine, which is fighting against Russia on the instruction of the US and other countries.

Notably, US support to Pakistan in the past is widely known. The US was said to be standing with Pakistan in 1971 when the latter was committing genocide in Bangladesh (then east Pakistan), in which thousands of people were killed and thousands of women were raped.

Here, it is worth mentioning that the Taliban was created by Pakistan’ Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the US’s Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in the early 1990s to counter Russia in Afghanistan.

As per many experts, the US has been playing a double game for decades. A declassified American government document in August 2021 revealed that the US had knowledge about Pakistan’s nuclear program and that the then-Jimmy Carter administration (1977 to 1981) had avoided taking action against Islamabad. As per New York Times report in 1998, the US provided technical training to Pakistani nuclear scientists from 1950s to 1970s. Also, the US turned a blind eye to the nuclear weapons program in the 1980's as Pakistan was helping the CIA in smuggling weapons to Afghan guerrillas who were fighting against the Soviet Union.

Notably, the US might be using Pakistan for its interest, but Pakistan has also been fooling the US for decades, as per many experts. The US invaded Afghanistan after the 9/11 attack. The attack was carried out on the instruction of Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden. Ironically the same Laden was killed in Pakistan’s Abbottabad by the US forces in 2011. And surprisingly, Shakil Afridi, the doctor, who helped CIA to find Bin Laden is still in Pakistan’s Jail.

Thus, the US-Pakistan relationship is old and the US has always used Pakistan to check its rivals in the region despite knowing the fact that Pakistan is not totally loyal to it. So, it becomes important for India, for its self-interest, to keep an eye on the bonhomie between the US and Pakistan.