Trump’s Meeting With Pak Army Chief Asim Munir May Strain India-US Ties, Say Experts

Washington: US President Donald Trump on Wednesday hosted Pakistan Army Chief Syed Asim Munir for lunch at the White House. This was the first such meeting when the US President hosted a Pakistani Army Chief. Trump even said after the meeting that he felt honored to meet the Pakistani Army Chief. Experts believe that Donald Trump's love for the Pakistani Army Chief can deepen tensions with India. Trump had claimed to prevent a military conflict between India and Pakistan last month.

Just hours before meeting Munir, Trump and PM Narendra Modi had a phone conversation in which the Indian Prime Minister had made it clear that India would never accept mediation and the discussion between the Indian and Pakistani armies to stop military action was started at the request of Islamabad. Not only this, Trump also invited PM Modi to visit America while returning from Canada, which PM Modi declined.

Trump's love for Pakistan

Trump's meeting with Munir also proves that America clearly considers Pakistan's military leadership as the real ruler of the country. When Trump was asked earlier what he wanted to achieve from this meeting, Trump said, 'Well, I stopped a war... I love Pakistan. I think (Indian Prime Minister) Modi is a wonderful person. I spoke to him last night. We are going to do a trade deal with India.' Referring to Munir, Trump said that he was very effective in stopping the war from Pakistan's side.

Damage to India-US relations

Trump claimed last month that he had mediated in the ceasefire between India and Pakistan. Pakistan has thanked Washington and Trump for the mediation role. While India has repeatedly denied any third party mediation. Experts say that Trump's repeated comments on the ceasefire could harm India-US relations.

Michael Kugelman, senior fellow at the Asia Pacific Foundation think tank, said that if Trump continues to comment about the US role in the ceasefire and offers to mediate on Kashmir, then the recently improved relations between India and the US could be damaged.