For future reference here is the text of the travel advisory. Travel to Pakistan was not banned by the U.S. or Pakistan in 1981.
TRAVEL TO PAKISTAN
BEFORE TRAVELING TO PAKISTAN, AMERICAN CITIZENS SHOULD BE AWARE OF THE FOLLOWING UPDATED VISA REQUIREMENTS:
30 DAY VISAS ARE AVAILABLE AT PAKISTANI AIRPORTS [FOR] TOURISTS ONLY. AS THESE VISAS ARE RARELY EXTENDED BEYOND THE 30 DAY TIME PER[IOD,] TOURISTS PLANNING TO STAY LONGER SHOULD SECURE VISAS BEFORE COMING TO PAKISTAN.
I don’t know what the laws were in Pakistan at the time, but it appears that they were allowing Americans to travel to Pakistan and obtain a 30-day visa at Pakistani airports.
Regarding the political climate in Pakistan at the time: Chief of Army Staff Gen. Muhammad Zia ul-Haq assumed the presidency of Pakistan in 1977. In 1979, President Zia banned political activity, postponed national elections, declared martial law, and sharia law. Pakistan remained under martial and sharia law until 1988 when President Zia was killed in a plane crash. Chairman of the Senate Ghulam Ishaq Khan became Acting President and announced that elections scheduled for November 1988 would take place.
According to the Obama campaign, In 1981 — the year Obama transferred from Occidental College to Columbia University — Obama visited his mother and sister Maya in Indonesia. After that visit, Obama traveled to Pakistan with a friend from college whose family was from there. The Obama campaign says Obama was in Pakistan for about three weeks, staying with his friend’s family in Karachi and also visiting Hyderabad in Southern India. (Note: This paragraph is directly from an article by Jake Tapper of ABC.)
It would appear that Obama likely obtained a 30-day visa in Pakistan upon his arrival there. That is conjecture on my part and is unconfirmed. He stayed less than 30 days, so there would have been no need to obtain an extended visa.
thanks.
If the obama campaign says three weeks for the stay in Pakistan, you can bet your life it’s not true. He probably stayed longer.
Summer camp in a madrassas?