“there was a thriving American community there. There could well have been more Americans there in 1981 than there are today.”
They had to already be there or travel there by way of some other country since you couldn’t use a US passport to go direct since it was illegal.
Are you REALLY that ignorant or uninformed? It was NOT illegal to travel to Pakistan in 1981 - that is just total crap, dummass repetition of crap put out by some other dummass. You need to get a clue. Learn to read, and listen to people who actually KNOW what they are talking about.