Political Islam, the Jamaat-e-Islami, and Pakistan's Role in the Afghan-Soviet War, 1979-1988

As the decade of the 1970s neared its close, relations between the United States and Pakistan were seemingly at a historic low. The close strategic relationship between Washington and Islamabad had first been frayed by what Pakistan viewed as insufficient support from the United States during its wars with India in 1965 and 1971. Relations further soured after General Zia-ul-Haq took power in a military coup in July 1977. In response to Zia's coup, the administration of Jimmy Carter, which had entered the White House five months earlier, was determined to place a renewed focus on human rights as a guiding factor of US foreign relations. Pursuant to that strategy, the administration put economic sanctions on Pakistan and cut off its military aid. But Washington's ostracization of Islamabad would not last long. Events throughout the region inclined the United States to conclude that strategic Cold War concerns outweighed adherence to its newly established emphasis on human rights and led the Carter administration to rekindle its relationship with Pakistan.