After brokering<\/a> a ceasefire, Pakistan is now set to host crucial talks<\/a> between Iran and Washington on Saturday, April 11 \u2014 a dialogue that will very much decide the fate of the Middle East and the rest of the world. The teams that will likely arrive comprise political heavyweights, including US Vice President JD Vance and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.<\/p>\n Consequently, preparations in Islamabad<\/a> are underway in full swing: a red alert has been issued, over 10,000 security personnel deployed, and all entry points closed.<\/p>\n For Pakistan, this is a significant moment in its diplomatic history. Particularly with respect to the US, it has been a decade since a high-level American delegation, including the country\u2019s vice president, visited Pakistan.<\/p>\n Here, we take a look at the history of all the times American presidents and vice presidents have visited Pakistan.<\/p>\n It was a cold and fragrant December morning in Karachi when the 34th president of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower, landed in the port city on the invitation of his Pakistani counterpart, General Ayub Khan. The two leaders spoke on a range of topics<\/a>: East-West relations, Soviet strategy in the Middle East, Pakistan-India ties, Central Treaty Organisation and Pakistan\u2019s military requirements, and Afghanistan.<\/p>\n \u201cNo city dweller then alive and aware could ever forget this visit,\u201d recalled academic Pervez Hoodboy in a column<\/a> for Dawn<\/em>. \u201cPublic and private buildings across the city had been spruced up weeks earlier. Decorative lights installed, roads re-carpeted, welcoming rehearsals performed in schools, and a massive musical fountain (later demolished) was especially constructed.\u201d<\/p>\n He recounted how the outskirts of Karachi smelled of perfume that day. Eisenhower\u2019s plane was scheduled to land at the Mauripur airbase, and at the time, the road to the city centre had a three- to four-kilometre stretch passing by the poverty-stricken Machar Colony, where the stench of open sewers and street toilets filled the air.<\/p>\n \u201cLest the American president\u2019s olfactory sensibilities be offended, drums of perfume were flown in from Paris and sprayed along the roadsides,\u201d Hoodboy wrote.<\/p>\n The payoff of the visit, he mentioned, was \u201cgenerous for Pakistan\u2019s government\u201d as the US doubled its military and economic aid in the next two to three years, and an \u201centire air force was gifted to Pakistan\u201d.<\/p>\n Islamabad had become America\u2019s \u201cmost allied ally\u201d.<\/p>\n On May 20, 1961, the life of Bashir Ahmed Sarben, a camel cart man in Karachi, changed forever: he met Lyndon Johnson, the then vice president of the US, who was touring Pakistan on behalf of President Kennedy as part of a goodwill mission.<\/p>\n Johnson\u2019s car was queued in the infamous Karachi traffic when he saw Bashir and got out to meet him. \u201cWhen Lyndon Johnson saw our father with the camel cart, he stopped. He then met our father and shook his hand. Johnson asked our father if he would like to become his friend. My father said yes,\u201d recalled<\/a> Bashir\u2019s son years later.<\/p>\n Bashir was also invited to visit America. His subsequent visit to the US culminated in a lifelong relationship that lasted till they both passed away. The chance encounter between Bashir and Johnson also went on to become a household tale that generations to come will hear.<\/p>\n Years later, in 1967, Johnson again briefly visited Pakistan \u2014 for an hour \u2014 but this time as the US president. He met Gen Ayub Khan at the Karachi airport as part of a world tour.<\/p>\n Playing a global diplomatic role is not a new feat for Pakistan. In 1969, then-US President Richard Nixon visited<\/a> the South Asian country for this purpose: to task General Yahya Khan with passing a message to Beijing that Washington wanted to open communication with China.<\/p>\n Nixon landed in Lahore and met Gen Yahya, for whom he later developed<\/a> a liking.<\/p>\n According to reports, Pakistan was chosen for the diplomatic role because it maintained working relations with both Washington and Beijing. \u201cWe finally settled on Pakistan. Pakistan had the advantage of being a friend to both sides,\u201d said Former US Ambassador to China Winston Lord in an interview years later.<\/p>\n \n <\/a>\n <\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n And Islamabad successfully fulfilled the task. After two years of indirect US-China exchanges assisted by Pakistan, in 1971, Henry Kissinger, former American secretary of state, visited Beijing in a Pakistani government plane.<\/p>\n The 1969 tour was not Nixon\u2019s first visit to Pakistan. When he was still the vice president, he met Gen Ayub during which he found him \u201cfrank and candid\u201d. The visit<\/a>, however, was made in the capacity of a \u201cprivate citizen\u201d.<\/p>\n In May 1984, then-vice president George Bush met with military ruler General Ziaul Haq in the dense pine forests of Murree. According to an archived report<\/a> by the United Press International<\/em>, Bush was there to deliver a letter from President Ronald Reagan, the contents of which were undisclosed.<\/p>\n It quoted a US government spokeswoman as describing the talks as \u201cvery frank, friendly and warm\u201d, adding that they covered geo-political issues, regional matters, Pakistan-US relations and the world economy.<\/p>\n While she didn\u2019t disclose the details of the talks, the spokeswoman indicated that they included Afghanistan (where the Soviet-Afghan war was taking place) and the Iran-Iraq conflict.<\/p>\n Bill Clinton arrived in Pakistan in 2000, soon after the dismissal of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, becoming the first US president to visit the country in 30 years. His five-hour trip, however, became known for more than one reason.<\/p>\n For one, as ex-finance minister Shaukat Aziz noted in his book<\/a>, the American president refused to be photographed shaking hands with military dictator General Pervaiz Musharraf, \u201cnot wanting to be seen as endorsing the latter\u2019s coup\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWho doesn\u2019t remember that President Bill Clinton came to Pakistan in the spring of 2000 after the military takeover of October 1999 and would not be seen shaking hands in public with military ruler Gen Musharraf or being photographed with him?\u201d wrote<\/a> former Dawn<\/em> editor Abbas Nasir in an op-ed.<\/p>\n And then, Clinton, bypassing all diplomatic norms and raising many eyebrows, addressed the Pakistani nation in a televised address. He spoke on a couple of topics, including US-Pakistan ties.<\/p>\n It was the time when Pakistan was in the global spotlight, with back-to-back high-level visits from the US. One such trip was that of vice president Dick Cheney in December 2005.<\/p>\n \u201cThe United States wants to boost its multi-faceted ties with Pakistan on a long-term basis,\u201d he was quoted<\/a> as saying during a meeting with Gen Musharraf. Cheney also expressed solidarity and support for efforts to overcome the effects of the Oct 8 earthquake.<\/p>\n In 2007, he visited Pakistan yet again on an \u201cunannounced\u201d trip, during which Cheney was said to have delivered a warning<\/a> to Musharraf that \u201ccaused a furore in Pakistan\u201d.<\/p>\n In fact, just as Cheney was arriving in Pakistan, The New York Times<\/em> carried a news report which started with the ominous words: \u201cPresident Bush has decided to send an unusually tough message to one of his most important allies, Gen Pervez Musharraf the president of Pakistan, warning him that the newly Democratic Congress could cut aid to his country unless his forces become far more aggressive in hunting down [Al Qaeda] operatives\u201d, noted a Dawn<\/em> op-ed<\/a>.<\/p>\n It added, \u201cWhat exactly was said has not been made public in full. Cheney himself made no comment after his two-hour meeting with the president, much of it apparently a one-to-one conversation before he left for Kabul.\u201d<\/p>\n President George Bush arrived in Pakistan in the dead of the night in March 2006. He landed at a military base, where lights were dimmed and passengers were told to draw their shades.<\/p>\n \u201cDespite the cloak of darkness, there was still a greeting party for the president \u2014 half a dozen local TV crews and a banner touting President George W. Bush \u2014 A Friend of Pakistan, complete with pictures of Bush and Musharraf. A slew of helicopters were there as well, and it was hard to tell which one Bush got aboard, according to pool reporters on the scene, presumably for the purpose of throwing off any potential terrorists,\u201d reported<\/a> Time<\/em>.<\/p>\n It added that the security situation in Islamabad, where the Bush-Musharraf meeting was held, was in a total lockdown before and during the visit, with thousands of troops.<\/p>\n While the visit was driven by discussions on the fight against terrorism, economic partnerships, and American aid for the 2005 earthquake, it also featured a \u201ccricket clinic\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cSeeking to connect with ordinary Pakistanis, Bush, an avid baseball fan, took part in a cricket workshop with students from the Islamabad College for Boys, taking to the nets to have a try at batting and bowling in cricket nets set up at the US Embassy,\u201d reported Associated Press.<\/em><\/p>\n He also shook hands with cricketer Inzamamul Haq and was offered a baseball by the school team, before posing for a photograph with the young cricketers.<\/p>\n Joe Biden, then the vice president of the US, visited Pakistan twice: in 2009 and 2011.<\/p>\n The first time, he described<\/a> Pakistan as an \u201cincredibly valued ally and partner\u201d, promising that Islamabad\u2019s problems would feature high on president-elect Barack Obama\u2019s agenda for the region. He also met with President Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in a joint meeting.<\/p>\n Biden was also awarded the Hilal-i-Pakistan (Crescent of Pakistan) medal by Zardari in recognition of his services for the country. The ceremony to confer the award was held at the President\u2019s House.<\/p>\n The second visit, in 2011, was different, though. He was said to have come \u201cholding carrots and brandishing sticks\u201d.<\/p>\n During his six-hour stay in the capital, Biden held talks with both civilian and military leaders, mainly focused on Afghanistan, the existence of militant sanctuaries in Pakistan\u2019s tribal areas and the radicalisation of Pakistani society, according to a Dawn<\/em> report<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/a>The day Karachi smelled of perfume<\/strong><\/h2>\n
<\/a>An unlikely friendship<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i.dawn.com\/medium\/2015\/11\/5652f6f695b2e.gif\")
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/a>The chosen one<\/strong><\/h2>\n
<\/a>A delivery<\/strong><\/h2>\n
<\/a>No photos!<\/strong><\/h2>\n
<\/a>The unannounced visit<\/strong><\/h2>\n
<\/a>Party, lockdown and cricket<\/strong><\/h2>\n
<\/a>Awards and sticks<\/strong><\/h2>\n