The second term of Donald Trump as the US President has so far been a display of the outspoken politician’s myriad mood swings. In the short span of around six months since he assumed office in January this year, Trump has engaged in several very public verbal spats, including his recent fallout with business tycoon Elon Musk, who supported Trump during the US Presidential election.
Trump is known for his informal, unfiltered and unpredictable reactions, usually not expected of a global leader, to situations that require a formal and poised response.
One such unpredictable move by the US President was his recent meeting with Pakistan’s Army Chief Asim Munir at the White House. Trump hosted a private luncheon for Munir, which was preceded by Trump’s phone conversation with PM Modi.
Hours before his meeting with Munir, Trump professed his “love” for the Islamic country, which he once called out for harbouring terrorists and betraying the US. Munir also reciprocated the affection showed by Trump by nominating him for the Nobel Peace Prize for allegedly stopping war between the two nuclear-armed countries of India and Pakistan, a claim which PM Modi categorically refuted during his phone conversation with Trump.
The lunch meet comes weeks after military hostilities between India and Pakistan that lasted four days following the Pahalgam terror attack. Though it is quite normal for the heads of states to have official meetings but Trump’s meeting with Munir has grabbed eyeballs as the US President has been openly critical of Pakistan in the past.
Pakistan’s patronage to terrorists is a world-known fact. The country continues to provide safe haven to terrorists, who wish death to America. Dreaded terrorist Osama bin Laden who was responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attack in the US, enjoyed the protection of Pakistan’s military for years before the US military found and killed him.
Trump stopped financial aid to Pakistan during his first term
During his first term as the US President, Trump publicly slammed Pakistan and stopped its financial aid. In July 2012, Trump had called out Pakistan for hiding Osama Bin Laden for six years and questioned when it would apologise. Trump said that Pakistan fooled the US by hiding Laden. In 2018, Trump accused Pakistan of lying and deceiving the US by accepting its financial aid worth billions of dollars and in turn nurturing terrorists that killed the US military personnel in Afghanistan.
However, the US, which has a disproportionately high voting share in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) chose not to block the IMF’s bailout package worth $ 1 billion to Pakistan, at a time when India was conducting Operation Sindoor to eliminate terror camps in Pakistan and the PoJK.
Considering Trump’s past opinions about Pakistan, his meeting with Munir comes as shocker and raises an important question as to what led to Trump’s change of heart towards Pakistan, the country that he now describes as a “great nation”. Not just that, Trump has even promised to ramp up trade with Pakistan.
Trump’s duplicity on terrorism
Trump’s new-found love for Pakistan also highlights his duplicity towards on the issue of terrorism. While Trump is opposing Iran for the reason that it supports terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah, which carry out terrorist attacks against Israel, he is supporting Pakistan, which has a history of giving shelter to terrorists, as admitted by its leaders during India’s Operation Sindoor, who have carried out numerous brutal attacks on Indian soil. The fact that Pakistan army is complicit with terrorist organisations thriving on its land, became amply clear after Pakistani army’s high-ranking officials attended the funeral of a terrorist killed in India retaliatory strikes on Pak-based terror camps after the Pahalgam terror attack.
While it is difficult to predict how long Trump’s “love” for Pakistan would last considering his unpredictable mannerisms, India has fortified its position by declaring that it would not accept the interference of any external power in its internal matters, including the Kashmir issue.
