Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Pakistan Army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir were kept waiting briefly at the Oval Office before their meeting with US President Donald Trump on Friday. Ahead of the meeting, President Trump appeared uncertain about the whereabouts of the Pakistani leaders, acknowledging the delay during a press conference.
“They may be in this room right now, I don’t know because we’re late… they actually may be somewhere in the beautiful Oval Office,” Trump said. He added that both Shehbaz Sharif and Asim Munir are “great guys.”
Closed-Door Meeting Between Donald Trump, Shehbaz Sharif, Field Marshal Asim Munir
According to the Associated Press, Sharif arrived at the White House just before 5 pm local time, while Trump was occupied signing executive orders. The meeting, which included Asim Munir, was held behind closed doors. Following the discussions, the Pakistani delegation departed the White House around 6:18 pm.
The exact duration Shehbaz Sharif and Asim Munir waited for Trump remains unclear. However, the Pakistan Prime Minister’s Office confirmed that the meeting was delayed by nearly 30 minutes, ANI reported.
US-Pakistan Reproachment
The meeting comes at a time of heightened trade tensions between India and the United States, including the imposition of sweeping 50 percent tariffs on imports.
This is the first time President Trump has hosted Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif at the White House. Field Marshal Asim Munir, however, had previously been received in June for a meeting and a lunch at the White House. That earlier meeting attracted attention in India as it occurred just two months after the deadly April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, which claimed 26 lives, and followed the ceasefire between India and Pakistan that Trump had repeatedly claimed to have facilitated.
Shehbaz Sharif, in the United States to attend the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), made a brief trip from New York to Washington, D.C., specifically for the meeting with President Trump. The Pakistani Prime Minister is scheduled to address the UNGA podium on Friday.
Zubair Amin is a Senior Journalist at NewsX with over seven years of experience in reporting and editorial work. He has written for leading national and international publications, including Foreign Policy Magazine, Al Jazeera, The Economic Times, The Indian Express, The Wire, Article 14, Mongabay, News9, among others. His primary focus is on international affairs, with a strong interest in US politics and policy. He also writes on West Asia, Indian polity, and constitutional issues. Zubair tweets at zubaiyr.amin
