Pakistan Armed Forces
The Pakistan Armed Forces are the military forces of Pakistan. It is the world's seventh-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. As of the 2025 reforms, the highest-ranking military officer is the Chief of Defence Forces, who also serves concurrently as Chief of Army Staff, holding principal command authority over all three branches and overseeing war strategy, operations, joint force development, and resource allocation. The office of Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee has been abolished, and many prior responsibilities are now assumed by the CDF, streamlining military command and accelerating decision-making.
A pivotal part of the 2025 reforms is the formation of the position of Commander of National Strategic Command, a four-star army general appointed by the Prime Minister upon the CDF’s recommendation and is responsible for Pakistan’s nuclear and strategic assets. The Strategic Plans Division remains crucial, managing nuclear policy of Pakistan and national deterrent under the CNSC’s supervision. The President of Pakistan is the commander-in-chief of the Pakistan Armed Forces. All branches of Pakistan Armed Forces are now coordinated through the Chief of Defence Forces, who directs strategic planning, resource allocation, and joint military operations, with the Joint Staff Headquarters being reorganised to support integrated command across all services from the Joint Staff Headquarters.
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. 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. 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.
History
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 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 or remain serving in the Indian Armed Forces of the Dominion of India. Significant figures who opted for the former included Ayub Khan, Haji Mohammad Siddiq Choudri and Asghar Khan. 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 specialised 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".
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 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 Kargil War, resulted in a massive redeployment of forces in Kashmir. 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.
Organisation and Command Structure
Leadership of the Pakistan Armed Forces is provided by the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, which controls the military from the Joint staff Headquarters, adjacent to the Air HQ, Navy HQ, and Army General HQ in the vicinity of the Rawalpindi Military District, Punjab. The Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee is composed of the Chairman Joint Chiefs, the Chief of Army Staff, the Chief of Air Staff and the Chief of Naval Staff.At the JS HQ, it forms with the office of the Engineer-in-Chief, Navy Hydrographer, Surgeon-General of each inter-service, director of JS HQ, and Director-Generals of Inter-Services Public Relations, Inter-Services Selection Board, Inter-Services Intelligence, and the Strategic Plans Division Force.
Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (JCSC)
Following military failures in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 and Bangladesh Liberation War, federal studies on civil–military relations were held by a commission led by Hamoodur Rahman, Chief Justice of Pakistan. Recommendations of the Hamoodur Rahman Commission helped establish the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee to co-ordinate all military work and oversee joint missions and their execution during operations.The chairmanship of the JCSC rotates among the three main service branches, with appointment by the prime minister confirmed by the president. The chairman outranks all other four-star officers; however, he does not have operational command authority over the armed forces. In his capacity as chief military adviser, he assists the prime minister and the minister of defence in exercising their command functions.
Technically, the JCSC is the highest military body; and its chairman serves as the principal staff officer to the civilian prime minister, Cabinet, National Security Council, and president. The JCSC deals with joint military planning, joint training, integrated joint logistics, and provides strategic directions for the armed forces; it periodically reviews the role, size, and condition of the three main service branches; and it advises the civilian government on strategic communications, industrial mobilisations plans, and formulating defence plans. In many ways, the JCSC provides an important link to understand, maintain balance, and resolve conflicts between military and political circles. In times of peace, the JCSC's principle functions are to conduct planning of civil–military input; in times of war, the chairman acts as principal military adviser to the prime minister in the supervision and conduct of joint warfare.