Field Marshal Asim Munir must definitely have been overjoyed on receiving an invite for an exclusive lunch with the US President at White House. And for a man trying his best to live down accusations of plunging Pakistan into humongous crisis by “stealing” the peoples’ mandate through rigging in the 2024 General Elections and being referred to as a “failed marshal,” Donald Trump calling him his “favourite Field Marshal” would have been pure euphoria.

Perhaps that’s why Pakistan’s Chief of Defence Forces [CDF] probably may not have considered it necessary to seriously reflect on former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger’s seminal observation-cum-warning that while “it may be dangerous to be America’s enemy, but to be America’s friend is fatal.” So, rather than tread cautiously, the Field Marshal went overboard and even assumed the role of a briefcase-carrying travelling salesman peddling rare earth material.

While what exactly made him Trump’s “favourite” Field Marshal isn’t clear, but there’s no gainsaying the fact that complete and unconditional subservience is what endears people to the US President, and Munir hasn’t disappointed. While Islamabad has condemned the US-Israel savage airstrikes against Iran, it has taken due care to ensure that Washington isn’t named an aggressor.

The next surprising development was Islamabad signing the “Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement” [SMDA] with Saudi Arabia in September 2025, as by doing so Pakistan ended its long held neutrality within the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation [OIC]. Readers would recall that in 2015, Islamabad had declined Saudi Arabia’s request to join its coalition in the Yemen war for this very reason. 

Pakistan has........

© Eurasia Review