As the world bid farewell to Jimmy Carter, the longest-lived president in American history, a poignant piece of history resurfaced—a moment that exemplifies the close ties between the United States and Pakistan during Carter's presidency.
Tooba Masood
1/1/2025
TRT/AA
Jimmy Carter’s 1986 visit to Pakistan strengthened bilateral ties. / Photo: AP
In 1986, a humble peanut farmer from a small town in the United States signed the visitor’s log at a museum tucked away in Pakistan’s northwestern province. But this was no ordinary farmer.
The man behind the signature was none other than James Earl Carter Jr., better known to the world as Jimmy Carter, the 39th President of the United States.
Carter had left the presidential office just four years before he visited Pakistan.
Sharing this piece of history on social media, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Archaeology and Museums director, Abdul Samad, said: “A Page from the Museum Guestbook: Honouring the memory of former US President Jimmy Carter (1924–2024) and his historic visit to the iconic Peshawar Museum with First Lady Rosalynn Carter in 1986. Sharing this historic signature from the visitor's book as we bid farewell to the 39th US President, who passed away yesterday.”
“Jimmy Carter’s time was a historic moment for Pakistan-US bilateral relations, or probably the prime time when we were more than just strategic partners,” Samad told TRT World. During their four-day private visit, Carter and Rosalynn toured Karachi, Peshawar, and Lahore.
In Peshawar, Carter visited the museum and met Afghan refugee leaders at a camp near the city, sharing a message of hope for a free Afghanistan. Carter expressed his wish to visit Afghanistan when the country would be free from Soviet occupation.
Carter’s visit to Karachi included a stop at the mausoleum of Pakistan’s founding father, Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah. In a show of solidarity, Carter met with General Zia ul Haq, Pakistan’s then-military ruler, discussing future collaborations between the two countries.
One of the most significant agreements reached during this trip was between the Pakistani government and Global 2000, a report commissioned in 1980 by Carter during his presidency, focusing on health and agriculture programmes in Pakistan.
The visit came on the heels of Carter’s two-day stay in Bangladesh, where he called for stronger cooperation between developed and developing nations to combat terrorism
US-Pakistan ties
Carter, who served as US President from 1977 to 1981, developed a close and complex relationship with Pakistan and the country’s leader at the time – General Zia ul Haq.
His approach was diplomatic and pragmatic alliance-building which was driven by their shared geopolitical concerns over the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
Michael Kugelman, Director of South Asia Institute at The Wilson Centre, said Carter engaged closely with Zia, inviting him to the White House and offering effusive public praise.
“Carter continued this relationship with Zia after his presidency, including travelling to Pakistan in 1986 and meeting with Zia there to discuss opportunities for Carter’s charitable work in Pakistan,” he told TRT World.
Over the years, the two men exchanged several telegrams and letters to discuss what was happening in Pakistan and around its borders. For example, in this letter from 1980, Carter addressed the geopolitical situation following the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in December 1979.
When they met in Washington in 1980, they had a lot of good things to say about each other. Briefing the media after their meeting, Carter said: “On a mutual basis we understand that the relationship between our countries is of the utmost importance. Our commitment to consult very closely with Pakistan was expressed in an agreement signed in 1959; if Pakistan should be in danger, that commitment stands today as it did in 1959 and at the time of the State of the Union message that I delivered this January.”
“And finally let me say that we are honored personally by his visit. He's a military man who received part of his training in our country. He's familiar with our Nation. His knowledge of the sensitivities and ideals of America make him particularly dear to us. And his role now as the President of that great country has shown by all of his actions the political leadership and its worth not only to the people of Pakistan but to that entire troubled region and to our country as well.”
For Kugelman, Carter’s view of Zia was shaped by the realities of the Cold War, including his concerns about Communism and, during the last year of his presidency, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan that began in late 1979.
“This wasn’t the first time that a US president who advocated for democracy abroad sided with an autocrat to pursue a shared interest, in this case anti-Communism. But it was especially striking in Carter’s case given that he was a particularly robust proponent of democracy promotion abroad,” he said.
“Additionally, his administration was deeply concerned about Pakistan’s development of nuclear weapons and was unable to convince Pakistan to change course, something that caused considerable friction in bilateral relations. It’s one more data point that validates the truism that interests trump values in foreign policy,” he added.
Not surprisingly, Kugelman said, Carter condemned the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the strongest possible terms, depicting it not just as a Communist threat but also as a broader strategic danger, given the geography of Afghanistan.
“He dedicated a good part of his 1980 State of the Union address, which he delivered just a month after the invasion, to this issue. He also announced in that speech his intention to provide aid to Pakistan to fend off the Soviet threat,” Kugelman said.
That pledge by Carter, Kugelman explained, set in motion a highly consequential US policy, continued and intensified by the Ronald Reagan administration, to cooperate with Pakistan to push back the Soviets in Afghanistan.
“It was a policy that would have far-reaching implications for US-Pakistan relations and for broader future developments, including the eventual emergence of the Taliban,” he added.
Carter passed away peacefully on December 29 at the age of 100. He was the longest-lived president in American history and the first to live 100 years. He is survived by his three children, 11 grandchildren; and 14 great-grandchildren.
SOURCE: TRT World
Tooba Masood is a Karachi-based journalist, co-host of Pakistan’s first true crime podcast, and co-author of the upcoming book Society Girl.
Jimmy Carter’s 1986 visit to Pakistan strengthened bilateral ties. / Photo: AP
In 1986, a humble peanut farmer from a small town in the United States signed the visitor’s log at a museum tucked away in Pakistan’s northwestern province. But this was no ordinary farmer.
The man behind the signature was none other than James Earl Carter Jr., better known to the world as Jimmy Carter, the 39th President of the United States.
Carter had left the presidential office just four years before he visited Pakistan.
Sharing this piece of history on social media, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Archaeology and Museums director, Abdul Samad, said: “A Page from the Museum Guestbook: Honouring the memory of former US President Jimmy Carter (1924–2024) and his historic visit to the iconic Peshawar Museum with First Lady Rosalynn Carter in 1986. Sharing this historic signature from the visitor's book as we bid farewell to the 39th US President, who passed away yesterday.”
“Jimmy Carter’s time was a historic moment for Pakistan-US bilateral relations, or probably the prime time when we were more than just strategic partners,” Samad told TRT World. During their four-day private visit, Carter and Rosalynn toured Karachi, Peshawar, and Lahore.
In Peshawar, Carter visited the museum and met Afghan refugee leaders at a camp near the city, sharing a message of hope for a free Afghanistan. Carter expressed his wish to visit Afghanistan when the country would be free from Soviet occupation.
Carter’s visit to Karachi included a stop at the mausoleum of Pakistan’s founding father, Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah. In a show of solidarity, Carter met with General Zia ul Haq, Pakistan’s then-military ruler, discussing future collaborations between the two countries.
One of the most significant agreements reached during this trip was between the Pakistani government and Global 2000, a report commissioned in 1980 by Carter during his presidency, focusing on health and agriculture programmes in Pakistan.
The visit came on the heels of Carter’s two-day stay in Bangladesh, where he called for stronger cooperation between developed and developing nations to combat terrorism
US-Pakistan ties
Carter, who served as US President from 1977 to 1981, developed a close and complex relationship with Pakistan and the country’s leader at the time – General Zia ul Haq.
His approach was diplomatic and pragmatic alliance-building which was driven by their shared geopolitical concerns over the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
Michael Kugelman, Director of South Asia Institute at The Wilson Centre, said Carter engaged closely with Zia, inviting him to the White House and offering effusive public praise.
“Carter continued this relationship with Zia after his presidency, including travelling to Pakistan in 1986 and meeting with Zia there to discuss opportunities for Carter’s charitable work in Pakistan,” he told TRT World.
Over the years, the two men exchanged several telegrams and letters to discuss what was happening in Pakistan and around its borders. For example, in this letter from 1980, Carter addressed the geopolitical situation following the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in December 1979.
When they met in Washington in 1980, they had a lot of good things to say about each other. Briefing the media after their meeting, Carter said: “On a mutual basis we understand that the relationship between our countries is of the utmost importance. Our commitment to consult very closely with Pakistan was expressed in an agreement signed in 1959; if Pakistan should be in danger, that commitment stands today as it did in 1959 and at the time of the State of the Union message that I delivered this January.”
“And finally let me say that we are honored personally by his visit. He's a military man who received part of his training in our country. He's familiar with our Nation. His knowledge of the sensitivities and ideals of America make him particularly dear to us. And his role now as the President of that great country has shown by all of his actions the political leadership and its worth not only to the people of Pakistan but to that entire troubled region and to our country as well.”
For Kugelman, Carter’s view of Zia was shaped by the realities of the Cold War, including his concerns about Communism and, during the last year of his presidency, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan that began in late 1979.
“This wasn’t the first time that a US president who advocated for democracy abroad sided with an autocrat to pursue a shared interest, in this case anti-Communism. But it was especially striking in Carter’s case given that he was a particularly robust proponent of democracy promotion abroad,” he said.
“Additionally, his administration was deeply concerned about Pakistan’s development of nuclear weapons and was unable to convince Pakistan to change course, something that caused considerable friction in bilateral relations. It’s one more data point that validates the truism that interests trump values in foreign policy,” he added.
Not surprisingly, Kugelman said, Carter condemned the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the strongest possible terms, depicting it not just as a Communist threat but also as a broader strategic danger, given the geography of Afghanistan.
“He dedicated a good part of his 1980 State of the Union address, which he delivered just a month after the invasion, to this issue. He also announced in that speech his intention to provide aid to Pakistan to fend off the Soviet threat,” Kugelman said.
That pledge by Carter, Kugelman explained, set in motion a highly consequential US policy, continued and intensified by the Ronald Reagan administration, to cooperate with Pakistan to push back the Soviets in Afghanistan.
“It was a policy that would have far-reaching implications for US-Pakistan relations and for broader future developments, including the eventual emergence of the Taliban,” he added.
Carter passed away peacefully on December 29 at the age of 100. He was the longest-lived president in American history and the first to live 100 years. He is survived by his three children, 11 grandchildren; and 14 great-grandchildren.
SOURCE: TRT World
Tooba Masood is a Karachi-based journalist, co-host of Pakistan’s first true crime podcast, and co-author of the upcoming book Society Girl.
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