Editorial: Guess who had lunch with Trump

Amidst all the hurly-burly bothering the White House lately — Israel-Iran war, countrywide protests over immigrant detentions, G7 summit — US President Donald Trump found time on June 18 to have lunch with Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir. Even in normal times, that would raise an eyebrow, but in the context of the recent military conflict between India and Pakistan, it is extraordinary. It should certainly perplex India’s foreign policy establishment. Pakistani Army chiefs have been guests at the White House before, but always with the retinue of the Prime Ministers, never as singular, special invitees.

Even more extraordinary were the effusive remarks the President made about his guest later: Trump said he was “honoured” to meet Gen Munir and explained that “the reason I had him here was that I wanted to thank him for not going into the war with India.” He added that he wanted to thank Prime Minister Modi as well for the same reason, but the Indian leader was busy at the G7 summit with a visit to Croatia upcoming.

It's been reported that Modi too was invited to stop over in Washington after the G7 summit, but the Indian side excused itself, given the bad optics. Our Prime Minister receiving the same treatment as the Pakistani Army chief would not do our noblesse oblige any good. So, a 30-minute phone call was arranged between Modi and Trump, during which the Indian leader made it clear to the American President that India would never accept third-party mediation in the Kashmir issue. That assertion ­— which should have been made by Modi right after the ceasefire in the May 7-10 India-Pakistan military confrontation, but better late than never ­— did not stop Trump from trumpeting again, later to reporters, that it was he who stopped a nuclear war in South Asia.

Apart from lavishing his hospitality on Field Marshal Munir for saying Trump deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for his self-proclaimed peace-making success, the US President is making two points of concern to India. One, by inviting the Pakistani Army chief to the White House at this juncture, he is acknowledging that the Army wields the real power in Pakistan. Two, by continuing to harp on his so-called mediation despite Modi’s clear hands-off stance, he is making it obvious that the US is bent upon inserting itself into the Indo-Pakistan relationship, whether New Delhi likes it or not.

It follows from these developments that India and Pakistan will remain hyphenated in Washington’s eyes and that the emerging Indo-US relationship, in which PM Modi has invested so much of himself, will always be subject to America’s need for Pakistan's assistance in its dealings in West and Central Asia. That need was urgent when the US went to war in Afghanistan in 2001, and it is apparent again as it prepares to attack Iran now.

Developments that have taken place since India’s attack on terror infrastructure in Pakistan on May 7 beg some important questions: Were these potential outcomes and second-order effects considered before launching the airstrikes? Did we anticipate that we would end up restoring the Army’s popularity in Pakistan? Did we game Donald Trump’s opportunistic and unpredictable tendencies in the mix? These are important questions to consider that will help fine-tune our Pakistan policy in the months to come.