I am a US citizen and recently received a month-long tourist visa for Pakistan from the Washington DC embassy. I did everything through the mail and over the phone, and everything ended up working out pretty well. I sent in my passport via USPS along with all of the required information from the website (
http://embassyofpakistanusa.org/visa/). Since I am planning on entering and exiting the country by bicycle, I opted to fake some information to avoid any potential hassle. This was very straightforward, all I had to do was provide a port of entry/departure, itinerary, and have these details backed up in my LOI (but did not have to fake any hotel info or flight tickets).
After 4 weeks from the embassy receiving my application, I received my visa in the mail (they estimate the processing time to take 4-6 weeks). Unfortunately, there was a pretty obvious oversight as they only made the validity of the visa for 3 months, when I requested my trip to be 6 months from now. By now, I have learned that
the Washington DC embassy completely ignores emails (anecdotally and hearing from other people), so I attempted to get a hold of them via phone. The initial phone answerer was a bit brash but got straight to the point which was nice. I explained my issue, and he got me in contact with another person at the embassy. This person was extremely helpful and understanding. I sent my visa with overnight shipping via USPS back to the embassy and received the correct extended validity in the mail two days later.