page_title: Ayub Khan (general)
section_title: U.S. alliance and 1960 U-2 incident
hierarchical_section_title: Ayub Khan (general) / President of Pakistan (1958–1969) / Foreign policy / U.S. alliance and 1960 U-2 incident
caption_attribution_description: English: Motorcade for President Mohammad Ayub Khan of Pakistan. In open car (Lincoln-Mercury Continental with bubble top): Secret Service agent William Greer (driving); Military Aide to the President General Chester V. Clifton (front seat, center); Secret Service Agent Gerald “Jerry” Behn (front seat, right; partially hidden); President Mohammad Ayub Khan (standing); President John F. Kennedy (standing). Crowd watching. 14th Street, Washington, D.C.
context_page_description: Muhammad Ayub Khan, was a Pakistani army general and the second President of Pakistan who forcibly assumed the presidency from the first president Iskander Mirza through coup in 1958, the first successful coup d'état of the country. The popular demonstrations and labour strikes which were supported by the protests in East Pakistan ultimately led to his forced resignation in 1969.
  Trained at the British Royal Military College, Ayub Khan fought in World War II as a colonel in the British Indian Army before deciding to transfer to join the Pakistan Army as an aftermath of partition of British India in 1947. His command assignment included his role as commander of the 14th Division in East-Bengal and elevated as the first native Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army in 1951 by then-Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan in a controversial promotion over several senior officers. From 1953 to 1958, he served in the civilian government as Defence and Home Minister and supported President Iskander Mirza's decision to impose martial law against Prime Minister Feroze Khan's administration in 1958.
context_section_description: The foreign relations with the United States and European Union were prioritized and were main feature of his foreign policy while downplaying foreign relations with the Soviet Union. While he enjoyed support from President Dwight Eisenhower in 1950s and convinced the United States alongside with Prime Minister Ali Khan to forge military relations in an alliance against regional communism. His obsession towards modernization of the armed forces in shortest time possible saw the relations with United States as the only way to achieve his organization and personal objectives as he argued against civilian supremacy that would affect the American interests in the region as a result of an election.
  Leasing an airbase in Peshawar in 1950s, the Central Intelligence Agency's spy activities grew immensely during his presidency but such activities were exposed in 1960 when the Soviet Union's air defence intercept and shot down the U-2 plane by the S-75 missile, and captured its pilot. This incident severely compromised the national security of Pakistan that brought the Soviet ire on Pakistan but President Ayub had all knowledge of the operation and full aware of what happened in the Soviet Union. While in United Kingdom to pay state visit, the CIA station chief told President Ayub who shrugged his shoulders and said that he had expected this would happen at some point.
  Ayub Khan had to publicly offer his apologies to the Soviet Union after USSR Secretary General Nikita Khrushchev made a threat to bomb Peshawar. President Ayub directed initiatives to Foreign Office to reduce tensions with the Soviet Union by facilitating state visits of Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin and Soviet Foreign minister Gromyko in Pakistan on a condition of downplaying relations with the United States.
  In 1960, he signed the historic frontier agreement with China despite the US urgings and was a significant event in history of Cold war where a non-communist country had entered in alliance with a communist country.
  In 1961–65, Ayub lost much of the support from President John Kennedy and President Lyndon Johnson who sought closer relations with India and placed an embargo on both nations during the war in 1965. In 1966–67, he wrestled with the United States' dictation on country's foreign policy while strengthening relations with Soviet Union and China, whereas he successfully signed a border agreement to resolve border disputes in 1960s. Relations with the Soviet Union were eventually normalized when the Soviets facilitated a peace treaty with India in 1965, and reached a trade treaty the following year. Despite initiatives made towards normalizing with Soviet Union, Ayub Khan remained inclined towards the United States and western world, having well-received President Johnson in Karachi in 1967.
  In 1961–62, Ayub paid a state visit to the United Kingdom where he garnered a lot of public interests from the British public when his involvement was revealed in the Christine Keeler affair.
caption: President Ayub with President Kennedy in Washington D.C., ca. 1961.
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