ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir met US President Donald J. Trump at the White House on Thursday in a high-level engagement aimed at resetting relations between the two countries and expanding cooperation on security, trade and regional peace.
The Oval Office talks marked Sharif’s first meeting with Trump since the latter’s return to power earlier this year and the first joint appearance by Pakistan’s top civilian and military leadership before a US president in years. The meeting followed a precedent-setting White House lunch between Trump and Field Marshal Munir earlier this year — conducted without civilian officials present — and which came amid shifting geopolitical dynamics, including Washington’s increasingly strained ties with New Delhi.
By pairing civilian and military leadership in the same room with the US president, Pakistan is widely seen to be signaling a more coordinated foreign policy posture aimed at strengthening its influence in wider Middle Eastern and Asian security discussions.
During what the Pakistani prime minister’s office described as a “warm and cordial” meeting, Sharif said he was confident the talks would usher in a new phase in bilateral relations.
