Roving Periscope: Munir proposes Nobel for Trump, who asks him to pay the bill!
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Self-declared dealmaker–“I have been making deals all my life!—businessman-turned-US President Donald Trump hosted a working lunch for Pakistan’s Army chief ‘Field Marshal’ Asim Munir on Wednesday, said he was “honored to meet this smart man,” and then asked him to pay the bill, as he sought access to the bankrupt country’s military bases and seaports.
The luncheon, hosted in the Cabinet Room of the White House amid a highly fluid and fast-changing geopolitical situation, lasted over an hour.
Against whom? Iran—no, Israel is taking care of that. Against Russia? No, Ukraine is there. Against China? Bingo!
In exchange, the US will provide cutting-edge military technology, and funding, to Pakistan.
According to the media reports on Thursday, Trump sought a trade-off with Pakistan that will potentially reset relationship between the two frenemies.
While Pakistan has historically been a partner of the US, and played crucial roles to support the West in the Cold War and wars in Afghanistan, the US-Pakistan relationship hit a low point under the previous American administration —the then President Joe Biden never even talked to any Pakistani Prime Minister in the last four years.
With Trump back in the White House, the US and Pakistan are playing each other off against India and China in a highly fluid geopolitical gamesmanship.
Now, Trump is courting Pakistan again when India refused to toe Washington’s line. He has not just been claiming credit for brokering the so-called ‘ceasefire’ between India and Pakistan in May, and tried to ‘mediate’ in the Jammu and Kashmir matter, he also tried to impose tough terms in the ongoing trade and tariff negotiations.
On his part, Munir sought to grease Trump and proposed a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to end the ongoing wars—the Russia-Ukraine war, the Gaza Conflict, and the ongoing Israel-Iran hostilities, besides, of course, India’s paused Operation Sindoor—none of which has yielded any tangible results.
Desperate to show results after five months of his rather lacklustre and chaotic second term since January 2025, Trump’s latest offer to Pakistan—give me military bases, I will give you fifth-generation fighter jets, and money—is seen as securing a foothold in South Asia and West Asia, and to exclude China from the two regions.
The media reported that Trump told Munir that the offer rests on the condition that Pakistan would curtail deals with China and Russia.
While Pakistan still uses US-made equipments, like F-16 warplanes and naval vassals, the Islamist country, in recent years, swiftly moved closer to China, providing it the Gwadar port and ceded land mainly in a restive Baluchistan and disputed Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and got in return loans, fighters, missiles, and other military aid from it.
Now Trump has offered Pakistan significant financial aid and told Munir that new security and trade agreements were also on the table.
Interestingly, Trump praised Munir for his role in preventing an escalation of the conflict between India and Pakistan. “”Reason I had him here was I wanted to thank him for not going into the war and ending it..,” Trump said at the luncheon meeting.
The meeting was the first time a US president had hosted the all-powerful head of the Pakistan’s army, the real power behind the façade of an ‘elected government’ in Islamabad since 1947.
At the White House, Munir was accompanied only by his deputy and ISI chief Lt Gen Asim Malik, not by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharief or any other minister, not even by senior Pakistani civilian officials.
The US President told reporters he thanked Munir for ending the war with India last month, for which he also praised Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who he spoke to on Wednesday.
“Two very smart people decided not to keep going with that war; that could have been a nuclear war,” he said.
Trump said he discussed with Munir the Iran case, which he said Pakistan knew better than most. “They (the Pakistanis) know Iran very well, better than most. They’re not happy about anything. It’s not that they’re bad with Israel. They know them both actually, but they probably, maybe, they know Iran better, but they see what’s going on and he agreed with me,” he told reporters.
Ironically, Pakistan has officially condemned Israel’s airstrikes against Iran, saying they violate international law and threaten regional stability. And when Iran disclosed that Pakistan promised to nuke Israel if the Jewish state did so against Tehran, Islamabad promptly denied it this week!
Asked earlier what he wanted to achieve from meeting Munir, the US President said: “Well, I stopped a war … I love Pakistan. I think Modi is a fantastic man. I spoke to him last night. We’re going to make a trade deal with Modi of India.”
On Wednesday, PM Modi held a 35-minute telephonic conversation with Trump, mainly on Operation Sindoor that India launched in May against Pakistan-based terror bases after the April 22 Pahalgam massacre of Hindu-only tourists. PM Modi also made it clear to Trump that at no time were issues such as the India-US trade deal or mediation by the US to broker peace between India and Pakistan were discussed.
Earlier on Wednesday, the White House said Trump was meeting the Pakistani army chief because the latter has called for a Nobel Prize to be given to the US President for averting a “nuclear war between India and Pakistan” last month.
“President Trump will host Field Marshal Munir after he called for the President to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for preventing a nuclear war between India and Pakistan,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly said.
