Pak Army Chief Asim Munir To Attend Farewell Of US General Michael Kurilla, His Second Trip In 2 Months
New Delhi : Pakistan army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir will head to the United States again this month in what will be his second visit to Washington in two months. Munir will attend the farewell of United States Central Command Commander (CENTCOM) General Michael Kurilla, who had previously termed Pakistan a phenomenal partner in counter-terrorism.
A four-star Army General who oversaw the US military action in the Middle East, is set to retire later this month. A couple of months back, Kurilla lavished praise on Pakistan for capturing five ISIS-Khorasan (ISIS-K) terrorists using intelligence provided by the US.
The open admiration for Pakistan by the US at a time when India was reaching out to the world to expose its role in sponsoring terrorism was not taken well by New Delhi. Pakistan repaid the praise by conferring the Nishan-e-Imtiaz , one of its highest civilian awards, on General Kurilla when he visited Islamabad in July.
The string of developments suggest a growing military and strategic engagement between Pakistan and the US. In June, Munir had a one-on-one lunch meeting with President Donald Trump, coming weeks after the Pahalgam terror attack and India’s Operation Sindoor.
It was the first time in history that a US President welcomed a Pakistani military leader without the presence of any government officials. Trump also publicly commended Munir’s role in de-escalating the tensions between India and Pakistan amid the hostilities in May.
The reason I had him here was I wanted to thank him for not going into the war and ending it, the US President said. In turn, the Pakistani Army chief backed Trump to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for averting a nuclear war between the two neighbours. Days later, the Pakistani government formally nominated Trump as well.
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