In a carefully choreographed return to the diplomatic spotlight, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir, the country’s army chief, were granted a private Oval Office audience with former U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday, reaffirming a gradual thaw in Washington-Islamabad relations, according to “NDTV”.
Although the meeting was arranged for late afternoon, sources report that Sharif and Munir were kept waiting 30 to 60 minutes before being ushered into the Oval Office, a delay Trump alluded to, quipping they might already “be somewhere in this room.”
Once convened, the discussion held behind closed doors, spanned bilateral trade, regional security, and global challenges such as the Gaza conflict. Sharif invited U.S. firms to invest in Pakistan’s agriculture, technology, energy, and mining sectors, underlining Islamabad’s commitment to economic renewal and partnership.
The meeting marks the first formal Oval Office visit by a Pakistani prime minister since Imran Khan in 2019.
It also comes against the backdrop of a new U.S.–Pakistan trade deal signed in July including a 19 % tariff framework and cooperative oil development, part of a broader effort to reposition relations after years of mistrust.
On regional tensions, Sharif praised Trump’s diplomatic role in securing the May ceasefire between India and Pakistan, calling him a “man of peace” whose intervention helped avert a broader crisis.
The Pakistan delegation departed the White House around 6:18 p.m., nearly 80 minutes after arrival.
Notably, no joint readout or public photographs were released, leaving many of the finer details opaque.
Still, the meeting carries symbolic weight. It suggests a recalibration: Pakistan is offering access to its mineral wealth and opening itself to U.S. investment as it navigates its strategic balancing between China and the United States.
Time will tell whether this moment crystallizes into lasting cooperation or becomes another chapter in a fraught and fickle partnership.
