Monitoring Desk: The Economist’s article titled” Pakistan’s army chief is cozying up to Donald Trump” confirms that America and Pakistan are now rebuilding ties with a focus on trade, counter-terrorism.
Although loaded with adjectives and negative metaphors, the writer had to accept that Pakistan’s resilient diplomacy under the guidance of the Field Marshal COAS Asim Munir has proven a success, while India is constantly losing ground in the global sphere.
Some important parts of the article are hereunder:
“Wracked by debt and insurgent violence, his country had been sidelined in geopolitics as America and other rich countries courted India, Pakistan’s arch-rival. And yet there he was, enjoying a private lunch with Donald Trump in the White House on June 18th, just over a month after Pakistan’s brief conflict with India. Then, at the end of July, came further snubs for India: branding it a “dead economy”, Mr Trump imposed tariffs of 25% while hailing a new trade deal with Pakistan.
The Field Marshal’s fortunes reflect a shift in American policy that affects India, China, and the Middle East”, mentioned the article.
Commenting on India’s frustration over Pakistan-US growing relations, the writer stated that both are rebuilding ties with a focus on trade, counter-terrorism, and consultation on Middle Eastern policy, and America may even sell arms again to Pakistan.
The article confirms further that Field Marshal Munir’s popularity has surged since the conflict with India.
“The future of the world’s second-largest Muslim country and its relations with America, India, and China thus depend increasingly on one question: what exactly does Field Marshal Munir want? The man himself declined an interview request (as he has done for all media since his appointment in 2022). But Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, Pakistan’s military spokesman, tells The Economist that talk of his boss becoming president is “nonsense”.
Others who have regularly met the army chief describe him as both pious and pragmatic, with a keen interest in the economy. Though he prays five times daily, says one, he does not “apply spirituality to statecraft. Even some critics credit the Field Marshal with resisting foreign pressure not to respond to India’s initial air strikes”.
The Field Marshal would probably still enjoy America’s backing. He recently earned praise for killing and capturing leaders of a local offshoot of the Islamic State. He has sparked interest from Trump associates in Pakistan’s crypto and mining sectors”. In return, America has toned down criticism of Pakistan’s programme to build longer-range ballistic missiles, which officials from Joe Biden’s administration considered a threat to America. It has resumed some aid programmes. It is also considering selling weaponry, including armoured vehicles and night-vision goggles, to help Pakistan combat local insurgents. And American officials are examining Pakistan’s evidence to support its claims that India backs those insurgencies”.