The Security of Pakistan
A Trip Report
ResearchPublished 1980
A Trip Report
ResearchPublished 1980
This Note, a companion to N-1579, is based on a trip to Pakistan in mid-1980 and reflects conversations by the author with numerous high-ranking Pakistani military officers and civil servants. Pakistan faces a severe threat on its eastern border as a result of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, both as a result of Soviet support for ethnic separatism and from conventional Soviet operations against Afghan guerrillas based in Pakistan. This comes at a time when Pakistan is falling far behind India in terms of military capability, both quantitatively and qualitatively. The American aid offer of March 1980 was deemed insufficient to begin to meet the spectrum of threats posed by the Soviets and their clients, while at the same time provoking Moscow and India. Nonetheless, the Pakistani military remains strongly pro-Western and would like to play a role in a larger American security arrangement for South Asia and the Persian Gulf.
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