European foreign ministers will meet their Iranian counterpart in Geneva to try to de-escalate the crisis between Iran and Israel.
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Meeting with Trump leaves Pakistan treading difficult line
Azadeh Moshiri
BBC News Pakistan correspondent
Image source, EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Image caption,
Asim Munir met with Donald Trump on Wednesday
Pakistan is treading a difficult line.
The meeting on Wednesday between Field Marshal Asim Munir, the most powerful figure in Pakistan today, and US President Donald Trump, was meant to be framed as somewhat of a victory lap.
One clear outcome of the recent conflict with India is a public rapprochement between the United States and Pakistan. Under the Biden administration, Islamabad couldn’t even get a phone call from the US president.
But the timing of the visit to the White House happened as Trump mulls entering a battle with Iran that Pakistan has condemned from the start, and supporting a state, Israel, whose actions Pakistan has called “barbaric”. The country is also in the midst of an evacuation operation that has repatriated nearly 3,000 Pakistani nationals from Iran. Pakistan shares a border with Iran.
In the end, the two-hour meeting was off-camera.
Pakistan’s statement mentioned that Iran was discussed, but what exactly the two leaders said is anyone’s guess. So, there were some uncomfortable questions in the foreign ministry briefing today.
Perhaps the most brazen had nothing to do with Iran at all.
Was there a civilian Pakistani politician in the room, followed by “are we a democratic country”?
Amid some laughter, the spokesperson, smiling, insisted Pakistan is “unambiguously” democratic, and referred the foreign press corps to the military for any other details on the Field Marshal’s meeting.
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