Security & defenceThe alliance era
A bilateral pledge signed in Ankara
Washington promised to help Pakistan against aggression - wording Karachi read as a guarantee against India and Washington did not.
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Agreement
Agreement of Cooperation
United States · Pakistan
Signed at Ankara · 10 UST 317
Agreement
Agreement of Cooperation
United States · Pakistan
Signed at Ankara · 10 UST 317
Background
After the Iraqi revolution of July 1958 shook the Baghdad Pact, the remaining regional members wanted firmer American commitments. In July 1958 the United States declared it would cooperate with them for their security, and it promised bilateral agreements1,2.
What happened
On 5 March 1959 the United States signed three identical Agreements of Cooperation in Ankara, with Turkey, Iran and Pakistan3. Article I of the agreement with Pakistan provided that, in case of aggression against Pakistan, the United States, in accordance with its Constitution, would take appropriate action, including the use of armed forces, as might be mutually agreed upon and as envisaged in the Joint Resolution to Promote Peace and Stability in the Middle East (the 1957 Eisenhower Doctrine resolution), to assist Pakistan at its request3. The text with Pakistan is printed at 10 UST 3173.
Different readings
The tie to the Eisenhower Doctrine resolution, which concerned aggression by states controlled by international communism, meant that in Washington's view the pledge was aimed at communist attack. Pakistani leaders, however, cited the agreement as an American commitment to come to Pakistan's aid against any aggression - including from India4. India's prime minister, Nehru, protested in Parliament that the agreement could be used against India5. The disagreement surfaced sharply in 1965 and again in 1971, when Pakistan invoked the agreement and Washington did not act as Pakistan expected4.
Legacy
The 1959 agreement has never been abrogated and is still cited in Pakistan as the formal basis of the alliance; it is also cited as an example of how the two countries attached different meanings to the same words4.
Sources
- Baghdad Pact (subject guide), Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library · Official
- Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958–1960, Volume XII, Editorial Note 56, Office of the Historian, US Department of State · Primary document
- Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958–1960, Volume XV, Editorial Note 346 (bilateral agreement of cooperation), Office of the Historian, US Department of State · Primary document
- The United States and Pakistan, 1947–2000: Disenchanted Allies (Dennis Kux), Woodrow Wilson Center Press / Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001 · Scholarly
- In the Rajya Sabha: US-Pakistan Military Pact (6 March 1959), Nehru Archive, 6 March 1959 · Primary document
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