Washington, July 15, 2026
US President Donald Trump’s outreach to Pakistani Army Chief Asim Munir may seem like transactional diplomacy, but the approach is “dangerously short-sighted”, a report has stated.
The Trump administration has relied on Munir as a principal intermediary in US-Iran diplomacy, welcoming him to the White House and highlighting Pakistan’s role in conveying messages and facilitating dialogue during times of heightened tensions.
However, the US strategy overlooks fundamental strategic divergences, rewarding a military establishment whose growing grip on power at home is destabilising the region the United States aims to stabilise, Siddhant Kishore, a Washington-based national security and foreign policy analyst, wrote in ‘The Cipher Brief’.
He mentioned that if the US elevates Munir without insisting on accountability, it would neither bring stability to South Asia nor the Middle East. Instead, he argued, it will legitimise a military regime that has learned to profit from crisis, repression and its strategic geography, reflecting “short-termism” disguised as diplomacy.
The expert said that Pakistan under Munir is not only authoritarian in structure but also coercive in its actions. In Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), he said, mass protests over governance, elite privileges and political representation have often turned violent, with last month’s clashes claiming more than 30 lives as police and paramilitary forces remained deployed against demonstrators.
Highlighting that Balochistan tells an even grimmer story, he noted that prominent Baloch activist Mahrang Baloch was charged in more than two dozen anti-terrorism cases following a prolonged period of “unlawful detention” and was sentenced to life imprisonment in June 2026 in what rights groups have described as a “politically motivated and procedurally flawed case”.
Beyond its borders, he said, Pakistan’s military operations in Afghanistan have also been marked by recklessness and widespread devastation.
Stressing that these instances of repression unfold amid deepening militarisation in Pakistan, Kishore said that President Trump has repeatedly hosted and publicly lauded Munir—calling him his “favourite” and crediting Pakistan with special insight into Iran,”
“Trump has publicly credited Pakistan with special insight into Iran, noting that Pakistanis ‘know Iran very well, better than most.’ Munir has been positioned as a back-channel messenger and facilitator during periods of US-Iran tension. In reality, however, Munir’s role in the negotiations deserves scrutiny, not applause. It appeared to align with Tehran’s demand that Washington ease pressure before talks could proceed. Munir reportedly told Trump that the US blockade of Iranian ports was a major obstacle to negotiations, reinforcing Iran’s position rather than balancing between both sides,” Kishore stated.
Warning that Washington’s growing engagement with Islamabad risks empowering the Pakistani military establishment, he said, “Pakistan’s regional aspirations do not align cleanly with US priorities. It hedges with Iran, deepens ties with China, antagonises India, suppresses democratic dissent, and uses its military-commercial complex to convert foreign engagement into domestic power.”(Agency)
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