Being invited to the White House during a visit to the United States is an honour. Even greater is to be invited to dinner by the President of the US. Field Marshal Asim Munir was given this honour, to much raising of eyebrows by the international community, especially in India. The reason is that the generals in Pakistan considered the use of terror groups to deliver punishment to targets as routine. This is far from being secret, for top leaders in the military and civilian leadership see nothing amiss in consorting with known terrorists in public. India has been the worst sufferer of such terror acts, but as the archives of US agencies would reveal, the military in Pakistan, whether serving or retired, trains terror groups across the world.
It was no mere coincidence that Osama bin Laden was protected by the Pakistan military in Abbottabad, and he was not the first or only such international terror planner to be so protected. Any counter-terror agency worth its name would have at least some details of military and ex-military officers of the Pakistan army training terror groups in their operations. As a US President intent on eliminating terror groups, President Trump may find it worthwhile to be brought up to speed on the links between the Pakistan military and terror groups across the world. Apart from this, the other factor is the strong link between the Pakistan military and the PLA. As is known, the PLA has a basket of asymmetric warfare methods, in several of which the Pakistan army is used as a willing accomplice.
Smuggling of fentanyl into the US is not the only way in which elements of the CCP have sought to lower the resilience of the US through operations inside the most powerful democracy in the world. The online world is being used to spread narratives designed to create hatred within segments of US society for others. The objective is to provoke a series of violent crimes involving loners susceptible to the poison being spewed through online messaging designed to provoke such maladjusted individuals to commit acts that are in effect terror operations. The attack on a Church of Latter Day Saints facility which took place recently in Salt Lake City is just a single sample of a series of similar actions, including the attempted assassination of Donald Trump in 2024 at a campaign rally and the killing of Charlie Kirk which took place a short while ago.
Field Marshal Munir is no admirer or friend of the US, rather he is the opposite of it. The Pakistan military has promised to open up its rare earth deposits to the US, not mentioning that these are located in Balochistan, a restive province in revolt against the Pakistan military. As the Chinese have found to their cost, looking at unlocking the mineral and other natural wealth of Balochistan is a risky proposition. Given that money laundering is among the skills of the Pakistan military, doing business deals with that entity entails the risk of future prosecution, a form of trauma that the Trump family endured in abundance while Joe Biden was the President. Pakistan is a bad bet for the US and the reasons for this are many. The military has always done the opposite of what it promised. There is no reason to believe there has been any change in this. Under the circumstances, it is opportune for President Trump to relook towards his bromance with Asim Munir, and to serve US interests by holding the terror-facilitating military to account rather than forging a partnership with it.
