Trump hosts Pak PM Shehbaz Sharif, Asim Munir amid strained India ties

US President Donald Trump on Thursday (local time) hosted Pakistan’s Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif for talks at the White House, signalling a warming of relations between Washington and Islamabad.

The meeting comes days after Trump and Sharif had an informal exchange on the sidelines of the 80th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). Sharif was also part of the meeting that Trump held with the leaders of eight Islamic-Arab countries, including Pakistan, to discuss strategy on ending the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, Associated Press reported.

Before he met Sharif, Trump described the Pakistani PM and Field Marshal Asim Munir as “great leaders.” Speaking with reporters outside the Oval Office, he said, “We have a great leader coming, the Prime Minister of Pakistan and the Field Marshal. Field Marshal is a very great guy, and so is the Prime Minister, both, and they’re coming, and they may be in this room right now.”

India-US ties

Ties between Washington and Islamabad have improved significantly as Trump’s once-close relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, one of his strongest during his first term, has strained over India’s continued purchase of Russian oil, at a time when Washington has been trying to broker a peace deal between Moscow and Kyiv.

Bilateral relations between New Delhi and Washington hit a rough patch after Trump imposed a 25 per cent reciprocal tariff, compared to the originally proposed 26 per cent tariff in April, especially after Trump and members of his administration claimed on several occasions that a deal with India was expected soon.

Relations were further downgraded when, days later, Trump imposed an additional 25 per cent tariff on India for purchasing Russian crude oil, taking the total tariff to 50 per cent, the highest in the world, along with Brazil.

Recently, however, Trump appeared to soften his stance on India by saying that negotiations between the two countries would resume to address the “trade barriers.” Still, he urged the European Union and G7 to impose tariffs on India and China as part of his broader efforts to compel Russian President Vladimir Putin to end atrocities in Ukraine.

Trump-Sharif meeting

The meeting between Trump and Sharif is the first since the US and Pakistan secured a deal in July that will enable Washington to develop Islamabad’s largely untapped oil reserves while reducing its tariffs.

According to reports, Sharif gained favour from Trump after publicly endorsing him for a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to end the conflict between India and Pakistan earlier in May this year. In June, Pakistan’s army chief, Asim Munir, also thanked Trump for his efforts to secure a ceasefire with India after four days of military confrontation.

India and Pakistan witnessed four days of confrontations in May after New Delhi launched Operation Sindoor and targeted terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), in response to the April 26 Pahalgam terror attack, which claimed the lives of 26 people, mostly tourists.

While Islamabad has continuously thanked Trump and his administration for the ceasefire, New Delhi has denied any involvement of the Trump administration in the agreement between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.