Donald Trump hosts 'great leader' Shehbaz Sharif, 'great guy' Asim Munir

Pakistan Prime Minister laud US President for brokering the May 10 truce with India

New Delhi: Even as relations between New Delhi and Washington, D.C. remain under stress, United States President Donald Trump has hosted Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who lauded him for facilitating the ceasefire that ended the four-day military flare-up between the South Asian nation and its archrival India from May 7 to 10.

Sharif was accompanied by Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, the chief of the Pakistan Army, during his meeting with the US President at the White House early on Friday (Indian Standard Time).

Though this was Sharif’s first visit to the White House, Trump had earlier hosted Munir at his official residence in Washington, D.C., on June 18, completely disregarding New Delhi’s allegation that the Pakistan Army chief had provoked the April 22 terrorist attack near Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir with an incendiary speech against India.

Trump lauded Sharif as a "great leader" and Munir as a "great guy", ahead of his meeting with the duo on Friday. Sharif, on the other hand, lauded Trump during the meeting for his “bold, courageous and decisive leadership” in “facilitating the Pakistan-India ceasefire”, according to a press release issued later by his office in Islamabad.

“In fact, we have a great leader coming, the Prime Minister of Pakistan (is) coming, and the Field Marshal (of) Pakistan. (The) Field Marshal is a very great guy, and so is the Prime Minister, both. And they're coming,” Trump told journalists at the Oval Office just before the meeting with Sharif and Munir.

Trump was accompanied by US Vice President J D Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio during his meeting with the Prime Minister and the military chief of Pakistan. The meeting, which was closed to the press, started late, and Sharif and Munir had to wait for Trump for about 30 minutes as he was speaking to journalists at the Oval Office.

“The leaders discussed enhancing the bilateral partnership, with the Prime Minister inviting US investment in Pakistan's key sectors and stressing the need to further enhance security and intelligence cooperation,” according to the press release issued in Islamabad.

“The Prime Minister also extended a warm and cordial invitation to President Trump to undertake an official visit to Pakistan, at his convenience.”

Trump had recently taken his oft-repeated claim about brokering the May 10 truce between India and Pakistan to the United Nations, notwithstanding repeated rebuttals from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government. While addressing the UN General Assembly, the US President had counted the India-Pakistan cross-border flare-up among the seven wars he had ended.

The relations between New Delhi and Washington, D.C., had come under stress over the past few weeks since the 47th US President imposed a 50% tariff on imports from India. Trump’s 50% tariff on India’s exports to the US had included a 25% additional tax that he had imposed to dissuade the South Asian nation from continuing to buy oil from Russia. He and his aides had accused India of funding Russia’s war against Ukraine despite the sanctions imposed on the former Soviet Union nation by the US and the European Union.

The exchange of positive vibes between New Delhi and Washington, D.C., Trump’s birthday greetings to Modi, and the resumption of negotiations for a trade deal between India and the US in the past couple of weeks had raised hope that the two nations might be able to bring the relationship back from the brink.

But the US recently withdrew a 2018 sanction waiver and thus made it difficult for India to continue its role in the operations of the Chabahar Port in Iran. Besides, the Trump administration also made a move to restrict the use of the H-1B visa by Indian information technology professionals to live and work in the US.

Apart from his tariff war, the US President’s repeated claims about his role in brokering the ceasefire between India and Pakistan and his bonhomie with the civil and military leaders of Pakistan also contributed to the stress in bilateral relations between New Delhi and Washington, D.C.

Sharif, earlier this week, had a brief chat with Trump on the sidelines of a meeting the US President had with the leaders of Arab and Muslim countries to discuss ways to end the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza. The Prime Minister of Pakistan praised the US President’s initiative to bring an immediate end to the conflict and restore peace in the Middle East, according to the press release issued in Islamabad.