Showering praise on Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir once again, US President Donald Trump on Tuesday called him a “fantastic” military officer.
In an interview with the New York Post, the US president said: “He [the field marshal] is fantastic, and therefore it’s more likely that we go back there [Pakistan].”
The US president said that the next round of Iran talks could resume in Pakistan over the next two days.
Islamabad emerged as a key mediator in the US-Iran war after Prime Minister Shehbaz mediated a two-week ceasefire between the two sides on April 8. Delegations from Washington and Tehran arrived in Islamabad and held negotiations for over 20 hours at his invitation over the last weekend. However, the negotiations could not result in an agreement.
In his latest interview, the US president said that the field marshal was doing a “great job” on the Iran talks.
This is not the first time that the US president has praised Field Marshal Munir and PM Shehbaz. On Sunday, he lauded Pakistan for hosting talks between Washington and Tehran in Islamabad, commending the “kind and very competent leadership” of the army chief and the prime minister.
“They [PM Shehbaz and the field marshal] are very extraordinary men, and continuously thank me for saving 30 to 50 million lives in what would have been a horrendous war with India,” he had added.
Pakistan’s push to get Iran and the United States to the negotiating table for their highest-level face-to-face talks in decades to end weeks of war has garnered international praise — and some surprise.
In Islamabad, Field Marshal Munir was at the centre of the action — greeting both delegations on their arrival and displaying remarkable bonhomie with Vance.
Trump frequently refers to CDF Munir as his “favourite field marshal”, after a rapport built during US efforts to defuse a short but intense armed conflict between Pakistan and rival India last year.
Pakistan heaped praise on Trump in the wake of that conflict, with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif nominating him for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Last weekend’s marathon talks ended with Vance announcing he was leaving without a deal, but Pakistan said it would continue to facilitate dialogue.
“Field Marshal Munir through tireless effort, played a key and historic role in extinguishing the flames of war and in bringing both parties to the negotiating table,” PM Shehbaz said in a televised address a few hours before the talks began.
— With additional input from AFP
