In past week alone, Trump has made nearly daily remarks praising the army chief.
Pakistan and the United States have recently seen an upswing in bilateral relations, particularly after US President Donald Trump mediated a ceasefire between Islamabad and New Delhi following a four-day military escalation in May.
Since then, Trump has frequently highlighted his role in averting what he described as a potential nuclear confrontation between the two neighbours.
On June 19, President Trump extended an unprecedented invitation to Pakistan’s Army Chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, for a historic luncheon at the White House. The US president has since lauded Munir on several occasions, even referring to him as “my favourite field marshal.”
Field Marshal Munir became the first serving Chief of Army Staff to have a face-to-face meeting with a sitting US president after joining the US President. The occasion also marked the first time a serving Pakistani army chief had been formally received at this level, without holding political office or governing under martial law.
Previous military rulers — such as Field Marshal Ayub Khan, Gen Ziaul Haq, and Gen Pervez Musharraf — met US presidents only after they had assumed the role of head of state.
Analysts are of the view that, despite decades of military cooperation between the two nations, the optics of the meeting were without precedent.
‘Honoured’ to meet field marshal
In his first comments after the White House lunch with Field Marshal Munir, Trump told the media that he “was honoured to meet him.”
“The reason I had him (Field Marshal Munir) here was that I wanted to thank him for not going into the war [with India]. And I want to thank PM [Narendra] Modi as well, who just left a few days ago.”
Earlier, when questioned by reporters on the White House lawn about the diplomatic outcomes expected from the meeting with Field Marshal Munir, Trump remarked, “This man was extremely influential in stopping it (India-Pakistan fighting) from the Pakistan side.”
‘Exceptional human being, inspiring personality’
On June 25, the US president, while speaking about the India-Pakistan ceasefire, described a conversation with Pakistan’s army chief and praised him in personal terms.
He said: “In fact, I had the general — he was really very impressive — the general from Pakistan was in my office last week.“ The same day, the US president had described the army chief as “an exceptional human being and an inspiring personality”.
‘A great, great guy’
On September 25, before Trump was scheduled to meet PM Shehbaz and COAS during their visit to the US, the president called the army chief “a great, great guy”.
Speaking to reporters before the meeting, Trump said that a “great leader” was coming to the White House.
“We’ve got the prime minister of Pakistan coming and the field marshal … [he’s] a great, great guy and so is the prime minister, both,” he told reporters.
Source: dawn.com/news
