Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir are expected to meet US President Donald Trump on Thursday, September 25, in a bilateral meeting at the White House, sources have told
CNN-News18. The Pakistani delegation will travel from New York, where they are attending the UN General Assembly, to Washington for the meeting.
The meeting is being billed as a high-stakes diplomatic effort. Among the agenda items reportedly slated for discussion are rising terrorism in the region, trade and tariff issues, cooperation on rare earth minerals, and broader counterterrorism collaboration. The delegation is also expected to raise matters of “mutual interest” in areas such as regional stability and bilateral ties, according to the sources.
This visit marks the third time in recent months that Field Marshal Munir is heading to the United States, following his stints in Washington earlier this year, and immediately after his attendance in the United Kingdom from September 18 to 23.
During his UK stay, Munir had participated in official and security meetings, and now he is poised to engage in further “top security meetings” in the US.
The last publicly acknowledged meeting between Pakistani and US leadership occurred on the margins of the UN General Assembly in New York, where Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and President Trump held an informal conversation following a summit of Arab-Islamic leaders.
Earlier this year, Munir had visited Washington and was hosted by President Trump for lunch at the White House. That meeting was viewed as part of Pakistan’s broader push to reset relations with the US and to present its military leadership as a reliable interlocutor on security issues.
