Field Marshal Munir’s White House Lunch Bill Has Arrived – OpEd

There are no free lunches, especially when the host isn’t a philanthropist but a seasoned businessman like US President Donald Trump. However, it seems that this is something that Pakistan’s de facto ruler Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir may not have reckoned when he got an invite for lunch at the White House. 

But perhaps, the temptation of joining the elite club of a selected few world leaders privileged to have dined exclusively with POTUS was so irresistible that the field marshal overlooked former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger’s sagacious observation that while “it may be dangerous to be America’s enemy, but to be America’s friend is fatal.” Yet, Munir isn’t the first army chief to bend backwards in an attempt to appease Uncle Sam.

Army chiefs in Pakistan, right from the time of Field Marshal Ayub Khan, have worked overtime to convince their people that the Americans were their “friends, not masters,” the Americans have cleverly played ball by making it appear to be so. Readers would recall that Trump, who just seven years ago had accused Pakistan of giving the US “nothing but lies and deceit [and] thinking of our leaders as fools” has now changed track and cleverly created an illusion of US-Pak bonhomie by his indulgent behaviour towards Pakistan in general, and Munir in particular. 

While referring to Pakistan as a “fantastic country [with] fantastic people,” Trump has declared Munir to be his “favourite field marshal” and his benevolent behaviour doesn’t end here. His repeated claims of having brokered a ceasefire that ended the four day Indo-Pak standoff in May despite categorical denials from New Delhi appears to be more of exercise to prop the field marshal’s image at home by diverting attention from the fact that it was the Pakistan army that had requested a ceasefire.

Similarly, while asserting that fighter aircrafts were lost during Operation Sindoor/ Bunyan al Marsous, Trump cleverly avoided mentioning to whom these belonged. It’s obvious that if Trump has reliable evidence of the losses, he would also be well aware of the type of aircrafts lost during the May conflagration. Hence, repeatedly mentioning aircraft losses but withholding specific details of the same makes just no sense- unless it is to conceal aircraft losses [especially US made F16 fighter jets] suffered by the Pakistani Air Force. 

Furthermore, it may be a mere coincidence, but the timing of Washington’s recent announcement of a $ 686 million F16 upgrade package deal with Islamabad does raise some questions. Firstly, since the last such upgrade costing $ 450 million took place in 2022, isn’t going in for yet another massive upgrade within a short span of just three years a bit unusual? 

Secondly, coming a mere seven months after Operation Sindoor, doesn’t cash-strapped Islamabad’s over-willingness in accepting the current F16 upgrade [for which it will have to pay] indicate some serious combat performance related issues? 

Trump claims to have stopped as many as eight wars. So, if one was to believe Trump’s claim that “[The] reason I had him [Munir] here [for lunch] was I wanted to thank him for not going into war and ending it,” then why hasn’t he hosted the other seven belligerents at White House? Unfortunately, by revealing that "President Trump will host Field Marshal Munir after he called for the President to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for preventing a nuclear war between India and Pakistan," White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly spilled the beans how by nominating Trump for the Nobel Prize made Munir the “Favourite Field Marshal” of the US President.

By agreeing to deploy troops in Gaza as part of the UN mandated International Stabilisation Force [ISF] to implement the 20 point peace plan mooted by Trump, Field Marshal Munir has lived up to the expectations that earned him the sobriquet of Trump’s “favourite field marshal.” And accepting this assignment would definitely not be an easy task. The ISF is required to support demilitarisation and the destruction of terror infrastructure and with Hamas unwilling to disarm this is not going to be an easy job for the Pakistan army which institutionally has very strong  pro-Hamas leanings.

According to a report published in Wall Street Journal [WSJ], a US official had disclosed that only 19 of the 70 countries approached had expressed willingness to be part of ISF. That many influential Islamic nations having very close ties with the US like Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates have refused to send troops for the ISF and instead opted to work with Washington to secure funds for financing ISF deployment clearly indicates the perceptible fear of adverse domestic backlash triggered by putting boots on ground in Gaza.

Islamabad unfortunately neither has funds to finance ISF deployment nor the influence to undertake any meaningful fundraising initiative. Perhaps this is why Field Marshal Munir has been forced to accept deployment of Pakistan army personnel as part of ISF. Commenting on this development, noted Pakistani political scientist and author Ayesha Siddiqa opines that “Field Marshal Asim Munir may win favor with Donald Trump by sending troops to Gaza, but it's a high-stakes gamble, with Islamist power centers [within Pakistan] ready to accuse him of 'appeasing' Israel.”

Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar’s public announcement that Pakistani troops deployed in Gaza would not participate in any plan to disarm Hamas endorses Ms Siddiqa’s apprehensions, but unfortunately, Munir has no choice. Senior Fellow for South Asia at the Atlantic Council Michael Kugelman has nailed this issue by observing that “Not contributing [to ISF] could annoy Trump, which is no small matter for a Pakistani state that appears quite keen to remain in his good graces.” 

Noting that since he “has unbridled power [and is] now constitutionally protected” Kugelman rightly concludes that “few people in Pakistan enjoy the luxury of being able to take risks more than Munir,” and therefore “ultimately, it will be Munir’s rules, and his rules only.” 

It’s difficult to prognose how things will pan out. Yet with Munir invoking Islamic edicts to publicly denounce opponents as “enemies of Islam,” his decision to deploy Pakistani soldiers as part of ISF could well be interpreted by hard liners as an unpardonable betrayal of the Palestine cause at the behest of Washington. This could precipitate a massive backlash back home where America and Israel are considered to be existential enemies of Islam and responsible for brutalising Palestinians as well as exterminating the Hamas Islamic fighters. Given the strong pro-Hamas and stronger anti-Israel sentiments within Pakistan, a catastrophe is just waiting to happen. 

So, while Munir is putting up a brave face, he definitely must have realised that exclusive lunches at the White House often comes at a prohibitive price!