Jun 18: In a significant and unanticipated diplomatic development, US President Donald Trump is scheduled to host Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, for lunch at the White House on Wednesday.
The meeting, listed on the president's official schedule, will be held in the Cabinet Room and closed to the press.
In Islamabad, the meeting is being seen as a major diplomatic win - particularly because earlier this month, an Indian delegation met US Vice President JD Vance, and Indian media depicted it as a diplomatic success, contrasting it with the apparent inability of the Pakistani delegation to secure a similar meeting. Munir's invitation to the White House is now being projected by officials in Islamabad as a diplomatic counterpoint to those narratives.
This development also marks a notable success for Pakistan in the ongoing diplomatic contest that followed last month's air combat with India - a confrontation that brought South Asia dangerously close to nuclear conflict. Munir is in the US on a five-day official visit. "DAWN
