Pakistan’s Army Chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, will travel to the United States later this week to attend the CENTCOM change of command ceremony, marking his second visit to Washington in less than two months.
Munir’s previous trip on June 18 included a rare lunch meeting with US President Donald Trump at the White House, held without the presence of senior Pakistani civilian officials. The talks came just weeks after India launched Operation Sindoor, dismantling nine terror facilities in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and killing over 100 terrorists in retaliation for the Pahalgam terror attack that left 26 people dead.
During the June meeting, Trump and Munir discussed trade, economic development, and cryptocurrency. The US president publicly praised Munir for helping to avert further escalation between India and Pakistan after four days of intense cross-border drone and missile strikes in May. Trump said Munir should be nominated for the Nobel Prize for “averting nuclear war,” though India insists the May 10 ceasefire was the result of direct DGMO-level talks with Islamabad, without foreign mediation.
The United States has since announced a trade agreement with Islamabad, granting American firms access to Pakistan’s oil reserves. At the same time, Trump signed an executive order reducing tariffs on Pakistani goods from 29 percent to 19 percent.
