Pakistan Armed Forces

The Pakistan Armed Forces (Urdu: پاکستان مسلح افواج; pronounced [ˈpɑːkˌɪstaːn mʊˈsəlˌle(ɦ) əfˈwɑːd͡ʒ]) are the military forces of Pakistan. It is the world's sixth-largest military measured by active military personnel and consists of three uniformed services—the Army, Navy, and the Air Force, which are backed by several paramilitary forces such as the National Guard and the Civil Armed Forces. A critical component to the armed forces' structure is the Strategic Plans Division Force, which is responsible for the maintenance and safeguarding of Pakistan's tactical and strategic nuclear weapons stockpile and assets. The president of Pakistan is the commander-in-chief of the Pakistan Armed Forces and the chain of command is organized under the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (JCSC) alongside the respective chiefs of staff of the Army, Navy, and Air Force. All branches are systemically coordinated during joint operations and missions under the Joint Staff Headquarters (JSHQ).

Since the 1963 Sino-Pakistan Agreement, the Pakistani military has had close relations with China, jointly working to develop the JF-17, the K-8, and various other weapon systems. As of 2025,^[update] China was the largest foreign supplier of military equipment to Pakistan in major arms. The military cooperation between the Chinese People's Liberation Army and Pakistan have accelerated the pace of joint military exercises, and their increasingly compatible weapon supply chains and network communication systems have accelerated the integration of defense capabilities between the two sides. Both nations also cooperate on the development of their nuclear and space technology programs. Alongside this, the Pakistani military also maintains relations with the United States in history, which gave Pakistan major non-NATO ally status in 2004. Pakistan procures the bulk of its military equipment from China and its own domestic suppliers.

The Pakistan Armed Forces were formed in 1947, when Pakistan gained independence from the British Empire. Since then, they have played a decisive role in the modern history of Pakistan, most notably due to fighting major wars with India in 1947–1948, 1965 and 1971. The armed forces have seized control of the government on several occasions, consequently forming what analysts refer to as a deep state referred to as "The Establishment". The need for border management led to the creation of the National Guard and the Civil Armed Forces to deal with civil unrest in the North-West, as well as the security of border areas in Punjab and Sindh by paramilitary troops. In 2024, the Pakistan Armed Forces had approximately 660,000 active personnel, excluding 25,000+ personnel in the Strategic Plans Division Forces and 291,000 active personnel in the various paramilitary forces. The military has traditionally had a large pool of volunteers, and therefore conscription has never been brought into effect, although both the Constitution of Pakistan and supplementary legislation allow for conscription in a state of war.

Accounting for 18.3% of national government expenditure in 2021, after interest payments, Pakistan's military absorbs a large part of the country's annual budget. The armed forces are generally highly approved of in Pakistani society. As of April 2021,^[update] Pakistan was the sixth-largest contributor to United Nations peacekeeping efforts, with 4,516 personnel deployed overseas. Other foreign deployments have consisted of Pakistani military personnel serving as military advisers in various African and Arab countries. The Pakistani military has maintained combat divisions and brigade-strength presences in some Arab states during the Arab–Israeli Wars, aided American-led coalition forces in the first Gulf War against Iraq, and actively taken part in the Somali and Bosnian conflicts.

The Pakistani military traces its roots directly back to the British Indian Army, in which many British Indian Muslims served during World War I and World War II, prior to the Partition of India in 1947. Upon Partition, military formations with a Muslim-majority (such as the Indian Army's infantry Muslim regiments) were transferred to the new Dominion of Pakistan, while on an individual basis, Indian Muslims could choose to transfer their allegiance and service to the Pakistan Armed Forces (consisting of the Pakistan Army, Royal Pakistan Navy and Royal Pakistan Air Force) or remain serving in the Indian Armed Forces of the Dominion of India. Significant figures who opted for the former included Ayub Khan (British Indian Army), Haji Mohammad Siddiq Choudri (Royal Indian Navy) and Asghar Khan (Royal Indian Air Force). Many of the senior officers who would form the Pakistan Armed Forces had fought with British forces in World War II, thus providing the newly created country with the professionalism, experience and leadership it would need in its future wars against neighbouring India. In a formula arranged by the British, military resources were to be divided between India and Pakistan in a ratio of 64% going to India and 36% going to Pakistan.

The Pakistani military largely retained British military traditions and doctrine until 1956, when the United States dispatched a specialized Military Assistance Advisory Group to Pakistan to build its military; from this point onward, American military tradition and doctrine became more dominant within Pakistan's armed forces. In March 1956, the order of precedence of the Pakistani military's three formal services changed from "Navy-Army-Air Force" to "Army-Navy-Air Force".^{[non-primary source needed]}

Between 1947 and 1971, Pakistan fought three direct conventional wars against India, with the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 witnessing the secession of East Pakistan as the independent state of Bangladesh. Rising tensions with Afghanistan in the 1960s (primarily over the Durand Line dispute) and an indirect proxy war fought against the Soviet Union throughout the 1970s and 1980s in the Soviet–Afghan War with American, British and Israeli assistance led to a sharp rise in the development of the Pakistan Armed Forces. In 1999, an extended period of intense border-skirmishing with India, the so-called Kargil War, resulted in a massive redeployment of forces in Kashmir. As of 2014,^[update] the military has been conducting counter-insurgency operations along the border areas of Afghanistan, while continuing to participate in several United Nations peacekeeping operations.

Since 1957, the armed forces have taken control from the civilian government in various military coups—ostensibly to restore order in the country, citing corruption and gross inefficiency on the part of the civilian leadership. While many Pakistanis have supported these seizures of power, others have claimed that the rampant political instability, lawlessness and corruption in Pakistan are the direct consequence of consistent military rule. The budget allocation for the Pakistan Armed Forces at over 20% of the annual budget of Pakistan. Elected officials and the lawmakers have been forced to come under military rule for over 30 years of Pakistan's existence.