U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he was “honoured” to host Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir for talks at the White House — marking the first time a sitting U.S. president has met Pakistan’s army chief without the presence of senior civilian officials from Islamabad.
The closed-door meeting, held in the White House Cabinet Room and not open to the press, was listed on the president’s official schedule.
In Islamabad, the high-profile engagement is being touted as a major diplomatic success. The timing is particularly significant, coming just weeks after an Indian delegation met U.S. Vice President JD Vance — a visit widely celebrated in Indian media as a diplomatic achievement. Pakistani officials are now presenting Gen. Munir’s White House visit as a strategic counterbalance.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Trump praised the Pakistani military leader: “I was honoured to meet him (Field Marshal Munir) today.”
When asked whether the ongoing Iran-Israel conflict was discussed, Trump responded: “They (Pakistan) know Iran very well, better than most, and they’re not happy about anything. It’s not that they’re bad with Israel. They know them both, actually, but they know Iran better.”
Trump further revealed that one of the primary reasons for the meeting was to personally thank Munir for exercising restraint during recent tensions with India. “He agreed with me. The reason I had him here was that I wanted to thank him for not going into the war [with India].
He added that the U.S. is working on a trade agreement involving both India and Pakistan, emphasizing the importance of regional stability: “These two very smart people decided not to keep going with a war that could have been a nuclear war. Pakistan and India are two big nuclear powers.”
