December, 1965. Field Marshal Ayub Khan, the “directly elected” President of Pakistan, delivers a friendly, Pathan-style slap to the face of US President Lyndon B. Johnson. Ayub had first made a state visit to the US in 1961, where he was received by President Kennedy himself. A confetti parade welcomed him in New York, marches in other cities. It was a celebration of the arrival of a staunch ally from troubled Asia at the height of the Cold War, the man who had proclaimed to the Americans, “Our Army can be your Army”. Today, our Presidents are welcomed by Assistants of the Secretary of State; they get only some minutes with the US head of state on their tours. Geostrategic interests allowed Ayub to give LBJ a friendly slap, all before we had acquired nuclear weapons and our relationship had become murky and troubled. A high point in our past? Debatable.
