Trump hosts Pakistan army chief for unprecedented lunch, confirms Iran discussed
This was the first time in many years that a Pakistani army chief was hosted by a sitting US president at the White House, highlighting Washington's renewed interest in maintaining influence in South Asia as regional tensions flare.
After the schedule for the lunch was announced this week, Pakistani media widely speculated that Munir would press Trump not to enter Israel's war with Iran and to seek a ceasefire. A section of Pakistan's embassy in Washington represents Iran's interests in the United States as Tehran does not have diplomatic relations with the US.
Munir's White House meeting during the ongoing Mideast conflict has also fueled speculation in Islamabad that Washington could push Pakistan to align more openly with the US position, which has historically been supportive of Israel. Such pressure could complicate Pakistan's delicate balancing act in the Middle East, where it maintains close ties with Iran and other Gulf partners and sympathizes with the Palestinian cause but seeks to avoid getting dragged into regional rivalries that could inflame tensions at home.
'Well, they [Pakistan] know Iran very well, better than most, and they're not happy about anything [Iran-Israel conflict],' Trump said in response to a question by a reporter after his meeting with Munir on whether Iran came up in the discussion.
'It's not that they're better with Israel. They [Pakistan] know them both actually, but they probably, maybe, know Iran better, but they [Pakistan] see what's going on. And he [Field Marshal General Asim Munir] agreed with me.'
Trump did not specify what the Pakistani general had agreed with him on, and went on to talk about last month's military conflict between India and Pakistan that the US president has publicly claimed credit for ending with a ceasefire.
Nuclear-armed neighbors India and Pakistan engaged in their fiercest military conflict in decades between May 7-10, exchanging drones, missiles and artillery for nearly four days before Trump announced he had brokered a truce.
'The reason I had him [Munir] here, I wanted to thank him for not going into the war [with India], just, you know, ending the war,' Trump said, also giving credit to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 'So, I was honored to meet him [Munir] today.'
Tensions between Israel and Iran have spiked sharply since last Friday when Israeli forces struck multiple targets including Iranian nuclear sites and senior officials. Iran retaliated with attacks on Israeli territory, raising fears of a wider Middle East war that could threaten global energy supplies and regional stability.
Pakistan, which shares a long border with Iran and maintains historic ties with Tehran, has repeatedly called for de-escalation and a ceasefire in the region. Defense Minister Khawaja Asif told Pakistan's Geo TV that Munir's White House visit would give the army chief a chance to share Pakistan's perspective on the conflict and push Washington to help prevent further escalation.
Pakistan's military plays a key role in shaping the country's foreign policy, and Munir's high-profile White House invitation is being seen as part of Washington's broader effort to recalibrate ties with Islamabad, a vital but often difficult ally for the US in South Asia.
Local media in Pakistan reported that Munir's visit had been arranged weeks in advance. Analysts say the rare top-level contact underscores how the US wants to maintain strategic leverage in a region shaped by the rivalries of three nuclear powers — China, India and Pakistan — and rising instability in the Middle East.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Arabiya
6 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Judge issues temporary injunction against Trump administration cancellation of humanities grants
A district court judge in New York issued a preliminary injunction Friday night stopping the mass cancellation of National Endowment for the Humanities grants to members of the Authors Guild on the grounds that their First Amendment rights were violated. Judge Colleen McMahon of the US District Court in the Southern District of New York stayed the mass cancellations of grants previously awarded to guild members and ordered that any funds associated with the grants not be reobligated until a trial on the merits of the case is held. In reaching her decision, the judge said the defendants terminated the grants based on the recipients' perceived viewpoint in an effort to drive such views out of the marketplace of ideas. This is most evident by the citation in the Termination Notices to executive orders purporting to combat Radical Indoctrination and Radical… DEI Programs and to further Biological Truth. One of the grants was to a professor writing a book on the reemergence of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1970s and 1980s. On a spreadsheet entitled 'Copy of NEH Active Grants,' the government flagged the work as being connected to diversity equality and inclusion efforts, McMahon wrote. The judge said several other history projects on the spreadsheet were also canceled in part because of their connection to DEI-related subjects. 'Far be it from this Court to deny the right of the Administration to focus NEH priorities on American history and exceptionalism as the year of our semiquincentennial approaches,' McMahon said. 'Such refocusing is ordinarily a matter of agency discretion. But agency discretion does not include discretion to violate the First Amendment. Nor does not give the Government the right to edit history.' McMahon said some of the grantees lost grants simply because they had received them during the Biden administration. The Guild filed a class action lawsuit in May against the NEH and the Department of Government Efficiency for terminating grants that had already been appropriated by Congress. The humanities group's lawsuit said DOGE brought the core work of the humanities councils to a screeching halt this spring when it terminated its grant program. The filing is the most recent lawsuit filed by humanities groups and historical research and library associations to try to stop funding cuts and the dissolution of federal agencies and organizations. McMahon noted her injunction is narrowly tailored to maintain the status quo until we can decide whether Plaintiffs are entitled to ultimate relief. 'It does nothing more.' The judge denied a temporary injunction request from the American Council of Learned Societies as well as several of their claims in the lawsuit. Their case included the American Historical Association and the Modern Language Association.
Al Arabiya
6 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
White House seeks fines from other universities after Columbia deal
The White House is seeking fines from several universities it says failed to stop antisemitism on campus, including Harvard University, in exchange for restoring federal funding, a Trump administration official said on Friday. The administration is in talks with several universities, including Cornell, Duke, Northwestern and Brown, the source said, confirming a report in The Wall Street Journal. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the administration is close to striking deals with Northwestern and Brown and potentially Cornell. A deal with Harvard, the country's oldest and richest university, is a key target for the White House, the official added. A spokesperson for Cornell declined to comment. Other universities did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Trump and his team have undertaken a broad campaign to leverage federal funding to force change at US universities, which the Republican president says are gripped by antisemitic and 'radical left' ideologies. Trump has targeted several universities since returning to office in January over the pro-Palestinian student protest movement that roiled college campuses last year. Columbia University said on Wednesday it will pay more than $200 million to the US government in a settlement with the administration to resolve federal probes and have most of its suspended federal funding restored. The Trump administration has welcomed the Columbia deal, with officials believing the university set the standard on how to reach an agreement, the official said. Harvard has taken a different approach, suing the federal government in a bid to get suspended federal grants restored.
Al Arabiya
7 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Top US justice official questions Epstein accomplice for second day
The US Justice Department's deputy chief conducted a second day of questioning Friday with Ghislaine Maxwell, the imprisoned accomplice of late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, whose infamous case has dragged President Donald Trump into a political firestorm. Todd Blanche, who is also Trump's former personal attorney, has so far declined to say what he discussed with Maxwell in the highly unusual meetings between a convicted felon and a top DOJ official. Maxwell's lawyer David Markus said Friday afternoon that she was asked about 'everything' and 'answered every single question' during the second day of questioning at a courthouse in Tallahassee, Florida. 'They asked about every single, every possible thing you could imagine,' Markus told reporters outside the courtroom, without elaborating. But he did say there was 'no offers' of clemency made to Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence on sex trafficking charges. Trump is looking to move past the Epstein scandal, which has seen him on rare unsure footing over claims his administration mishandled a review of the notorious case. On Friday, Trump again sought to put distance between himself and Epstein, the disgraced financier who died in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. 'I have nothing to do with the guy,' Trump, whose past friendship with Epstein has received much media attention this week, told reporters ahead of a visit to Scotland. Trump urged journalists to 'focus' instead on Democratic Party figures like former president Bill Clinton and his treasury secretary, former Harvard president Larry Summers, whom the Republican claimed were 'really close friends' of Epstein. Asked whether he was considering a pardon or commutation of Maxwell's 20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking, Trump said it was something 'I haven't thought about' – but stressed he had the power to do so. He also denied multiple US media reports that he was briefed in the spring by Attorney General Pam Bondi that his name appeared multiple times in the so-called 'Epstein Files.' 'No, I was never – never briefed, no,' Trump said. Multi-millionaire Epstein was accused of procuring underage girls for sex with his circle of wealthy, high-profile associates when he died by suicide in a New York jail cell. His death fueled conspiracy theories that he was murdered to stop him testifying against prominent accomplices. Trump, who had promised his supporters revelations about the case, infuriated some after his administration announced in early July that it had not discovered any new elements warranting the release of additional documents. The Department of Justice and the FBI said there was no proof that there was a 'list' of Epstein's clients, while affirming he died by suicide. Ahead of the second round of questioning, Markus told reporters 'Ghislaine has been treated unfairly for over five years now' and described her as a 'scapegoat.' 'Everything she says can be corroborated and she's telling the truth. She's got no reason to lie at this point and she's going to keep telling the truth,' he added. Maxwell, the only former Epstein associate who has been convicted, was jailed in 2022 for grooming underage girls between 1994 and 2004 so that Epstein could sexually exploit them. Her lawyer said she still intended to appeal her conviction in the Supreme Court. The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that Trump's name was among hundreds found during a DOJ review of Epstein's case files, though there has not been evidence of wrongdoing. Trump filed a $10 billion defamation suit against the Journal last week after it reported that he had penned a sexually suggestive letter to Epstein for his 50th birthday in 2003. House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson cut short the legislative session this week, sending lawmakers home on summer recess a day early to avoid potentially combustible debate – particularly among Trump's Republicans – on the release of files.
