Islamabad:
US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he had been honored to meet Marshal Asim Munnir Asim in an unprecedented meeting in the White House and has credited him with playing a decisive role in the war between Pakistan and India.
Trump’s lunch with Marshal Asim Munnir represented a major boost in American-Pakistani ties, which had largely langui under Trump and his predecessor Joe Biden, because both courted India as part of efforts to push China.
Addressing journalists from the oval office after the meeting, Trump said that the discussion had addressed several key regional questions, including Iran.
“They know Iran very well, better than most,” said Trump, noting that even if Pakistan is not aligned with Israel, he understands the two countries and their dynamics. “Maybe they know Iran better, but they see what’s going on, and he agrees with me,” he said.
Trump said the main reason to welcome the army chief was to thank him for saving climbing with India and helping to end tensions. “I wanted to thank him for not having entered the war, ending the war,” said Trump.
It is rare that Trump congratulated any foreign dignitary on a visit, because most foreign leaders had a very bad experience of the meeting of the American president.
Trump said that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also recently visited the White House. He said the United States worked on trade agreements with Pakistan and India. “We are working on a commercial agreement with India. We are working on a commercial agreement with Pakistan. They were both here.”
Thinking about the wider implications for regional peace, Trump said: “It could have been a nuclear war. They are two nuclear powers – large, large and large nuclear powers.”
He highlighted the role of leadership in defusing tensions, declaring: “Two intelligent people … decided not to continue to go with this war.”
Trump concluded by saying that he was “honored” to meet the Pakistani military chief.
Asked what he wanted to achieve at the meeting, Trump told journalists at the White House: “Well, I stopped a war … I love Pakistan. I think that (Indian Prime Minister Narendra) is a fantastic man. I told him about it last night. We will conclude a trade agreement with Modi of India.
“But I stopped war between Pakistan and India. This man was extremely influential to stop him on the Pakistani side, Modi on the side of India and others,” he said, referring to fit.
“They went there – and they are both nuclear countries. I stopped it.”
Pakistan and India were involved in a four -day conflict in May, exchanging missiles and drones for the first time since the two parties became nuclear powers in 1998.
The military conflict was launched by India, which launched missile strikes inside Pakistan after the attack on Pahalgam.
The two parties agreed with a cease-fire negotiated by the United States. Since then, President Trump has taken the credit several times for having avoided a major war between the two nuclear powers, to the great embarrassment of India.
The meeting lasts more than two hours and problems relating to the Pakistani bilateral links, the recent tensions of India-Pakistan and the current situation in the Middle East were some of the articles on the agenda.
It was for the first time that any American president welcomed a leader of the Pakistani army in the White House. President Barrack Obama made his way during the strategic dialogue of Pakistan-US and held a brief informal meeting with the general chief of the army at the time, Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani.
But no American president welcomed the chief of the Pakistani army exclusively before. No official statement has yet been published on the Pakistani side, but sources said that the meeting was held in a cordial atmosphere and that the army chief should hold more meetings with other US officials.
