US President Donald Trump heaped praise on Pakistani army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir on Wednesday following a meeting at the White House. He also dubbed Prime Minister Narendra Modi a “great friend” while reiterating his role in mediating a ceasefire between the two countries last month. The Trump administration has repeatedly claimed credit for “averting nuclear war” in the region after India launched Operation Sindoor in early May. The assertion has persisted despite repeated rebuttals from the Indian Ministry of External Affairs and even PM Modi.
“In fact, I had the general (Pakistan army chief Asim Munir), who is really impressive… he was in my office last week… Prime Minister Modi is a great friend of mine… and we got them to reason and I said we are not doing any trade deal if you are going to fight… and you know what they said? ‘No I want to do the trade deal.’ And we stopped a nuclear war,” Trump said on Wednesday.
The POTUS had hosted Pakistan Army chief Asim Munir at the White House for a closed-door luncheon meeting last week. The rare gesture came weeks after the four-day military clash with India amid growing concerns about the Israel-Iran conflict. Islamabad is known for its close ties with Tehran.
Trump has repeatedly claimed credit for negotiating a ceasefire between India and Pakistan (and more recently Israel and Iran) — even echoing calls for a Nobel Peace Prize. Prime Minister Narendra Modi however reminded his American counterpart last week that India and Pakistan had halted their military actions last month following direct talks between their militaries without any mediation by the US.
The nearly 35-minute phone call with Trump took place on June 18 — hours before the invite to Munir was announced. Modi also declined a request by the US president to stop over in America while returning from the G7 Summit because of “prior commitments”.
According to Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, Modi had firmly stated during the call that India does not and will “never accept” mediation. He also reiterated that discussions between Indian and Pakistani militaries about the cessation of military actions were initiated at Islamabad’s request.
The cessation of hostilities between India and Pakistan was first announced by President Trump on May 10. Since then, the US president has been claiming that he brokered the ceasefire deal by threatening to stop trade with both countries if they do not agree to stop the conflict.
(With inputs from agencies)