What price is Pakistan's Field Marshal Munir paying for free lunch with Trump?

India Today

19-06-2025

Everyone knows that there are no free lunches in America. Everyone also knows it is extremely rare for a US President to host the army chief of a country like Pakistan for a luncheon meeting. Asim Munir of Pakistan is, of course, no ordinary army chief. He is Pakistan's de facto ruler and undeclared military dictator. There is a civilian regime headed by the puppet Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif sitting in Islamabad. But it exists only to rubber stamp decisions taken by the military.advertisementFor all their grandstanding on democracy, human rights and liberal political values, the Americans have zero compunctions in entertaining, praising and feting the worst military dictators and mass murderers as long as 'he is our son of a b..ch', and ready to do the US' bidding. Therefore, there is logic in Trump entertaining Asim Munir in the White House. The question, however, is what's Trump's ask of Pakistan's generalissimo, and what is being offered in return. After all, a transactional Trump wouldn't be wasting time courting an Islamist yokel like Munir unless he wanted something significant from him.No one really knows what exactly was on the agenda of this meeting. Could it be something as simple as: Trump wanting to thank Munir because the latter called for the US President to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for 'stopping a nuclear war' between India and Pakistan? Is Trump playing host to someone who otherwise would be a pariah because he hopes to gain some personal financial benefit? The Trump organisation and its associates are reported to have entered into deals on cryptocurrency with Pakistan under the patronage of the Pakistan Army. There are also reports of Pakistanis having offered rare earth mineral rights and other lucrative projects (on paper at least) to US companies, some of which could be related to the Trump family.advertisement
Apart from the personal deals he might be trying to squeeze out of Munir, Trump could also be discussing terrorism cooperation against the perceived threat from the Islamic State Khorasan (ISK). A recent testimony of the Centcom chief suggests that terrorism is something on which both the US and Pakistan have been working together. Could Trump be trying to pull Pakistan out of the Chinese embrace by wooing Munir? Or is this about Iran? There is a lot of speculation about the US seeking logistics bases inside Balochistan for operations against Iran. At the very least, the US might be seeking free and unfettered use of Pakistani airspace for its Iran offensive. There is also some talk of seeking Pakistani assistance for rescue operations inside Iran in the event of US attacks on the Islamic Republic. Finally, the Americans could be even seeking intelligence cooperation from Pakistan for destabilising and changing the Iranian regime.In return, what could be Munir's ask from Trump? He could seek economic assistance and investments from the US. More importantly, he could press Trump to deliver on his assurance of mediating between India and Pakistan on Kashmir and forcing India to come to the dialogue table with Pakistan. The Pakistani delegation of MPs that travelled to the US believes Pakistan was promised US mediation as a face-saver for getting India to halt its Operation Sindoor and accept the ceasefire proposed by the Pakistan Army to end the four-day conflict. Apart from US intervention on the Kashmir issue, Munir could seek US pressure on India to back down and honour the Indus Waters Treaty. In addition, he could demand that the US pressure India to back off from its alleged support to Baloch freedom fighters and the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) insurgents.advertisementOn the eve of the lunch meeting, Munir seemed to be signalling to the US that he will play hard to get on Iran. He also hinted in his talk to members of the Pakistani diaspora that Pakistan seeks a dialogue with India to settle all their bilateral problems. Despite his recent Islamist and jihadist rants in Pakistan, Munir has tried to project himself as a democrat and someone who tolerates dissent back home, all buzzwords that the gullible US media eagerly laps up without any on-the-ground fact-checking.Munir wasn't the only one doing the signalling post-Operation Sindoor. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also ended weeks of avoiding joining issue with Trump's self-serving, self-congratulatory and self-lauding by taking credit for the ceasefire between India and Pakistan. The statement by the Indian Foreign Secretary about the Trump-Modi telephone conversation set the record straight about what transpired during the four-day clash and how there was no linking of the US-India trade deal or any mention of US mediation. Modi also skillfully dodged the bullet that Trump fired by slyly inviting him to the White House on the same day he was lunching with India's arch enemy. This was nothing but Trump trying to bring Munir and Modi together in a single frame, with him playing peacemaker and mediator. That Trump resorted to this subterfuge indicates that his agenda with Munir is probably more than just fobbing off the Pakistani dictator with a lunch for his endorsement of Trump's quest for a Nobel Peace Prize.advertisementIt is quite obvious that the dubious role of the Trump administration in the recent India-Pakistan bash up has raised Indian hackles and left a bitter taste of betrayal. While there is no doubt that the entire episode has caused a significant trust deficit between India and the US, the sense of hurt in India is somewhat misplaced. The fact is that the US and India are not wedded to each other. Neither of them has sworn lifelong loyalty to each other. They are what author Seema Sirohi calls 'Friends with Benefits'. To the extent their interests match and there is mutual benefit, they engage with each other. But since this is an open relationship, both are free to seek other suitors or lovers, even those who might be unpalatable or unacceptable to the other. If the US is wooing Pakistan for its own objectives, India too was not ready to end its relationship with Russia despite the US and other Western countries taking a rather dim view of India's continuing affair with their bete noire.advertisementThere will, of course, be a pushback from India in case the US, wanting to get Pakistan back in its bed, attempts to throw India under the bus – whether on Kashmir or the Indus Waters Treaty or any other bilateral issue. A small sample of that came with the Foreign Secretary's readout of the Trump-Modi talk. But if the Americans refrain from doing anything that violates India's red lines and flirt with Pakistan to get it to once again play mercenary for de-nuclearising Iran and dismantling the regime in that country, India can live with it, like India did when the US needed Pakistan for operations in Afghanistan. Both the US and India know that once things settle down, they will kiss and make up and re-energise their 'friends with benefit' relationship.advertisementPostScript: Very little has been revealed about the meeting between Trump and Munir. On the face of it, Trump was treating Munir to lunch to thank him for backing off in the war with India. But there are some hints that the two also spoke about Iran. There is as yet no clarity on what exactly the Americans sought from Pakistan and what Pakistan agreed to do. There is also no clarity on what the quid pro quo is for Pakistan's services – is it financial, or is it all about India? Both sides are being very cagey about their new terms of engagement. This is because any cooperation that Pakistan gives the US on Iran will have its political fallout. Similarly, if Trump has shafted India to appease Pakistan, he wouldn't want to announce it publicly. But in the next few days and weeks, actions on the ground will bring to light what Faustian deals were made between Munir and Trump.(Sushant Sareen is a Senior Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation)(Views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author)Tune InMust Watch