In a rare diplomatic gesture, Pakistan Army Chief General Asim Munir met US President Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday in a high-profile meeting between the two nations. The meeting came after Munir made public comments calling for Trump to be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for facilitating the de-escalation of a possible nuclear conflict between India and Pakistan last month.
The video posted by ANI on platform X revealed General Munir being received at the White House with senior aides. White House press secretary Anna Kelly endorsed the meeting, describing that Munir complimented Trump for de-escalating tensions between the South Asian rivals during their short military confrontation in early May.
According to Geo News, the closed-door luncheon took place amid growing regional uncertainty caused by the Iran-Israel tensions and wider questions surrounding future US engagement in the region. The gathering is described as significant in the context that very few foreign military commanders have been given this level of access, with past instances being Pakistani commanders who concurrently occupied presidential positions.
While this was going on, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Trump for 35 minutes on the same day, making it clear that the ceasefire following the May 7–10 hostilities had been the result of direct military communication and not third-party mediation. Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri reiterated India’s long-held aversion to third-party intervention in its bilateral affairs with Pakistan.
Notwithstanding India’s role, President Trump kept attributing his diplomacy. “I prevented a war between two nuclear powers,” he asserted, praising both Modi and Munir for their initiatives while making a big deal of the US as the central mediator.
A proposal for a Trump-Modi meeting at the G7 summit in Canada was canceled by Trump’s premature leaving. Modi invited Trump to the next Quad Summit in India, which Trump has accepted.
The India-Pakistan confrontation was prompted by the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that claimed 26 lives.
