Within the short span of a few months, Pakistan’s powerful Army Chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, has made two visits to Washington. There are clear benefits that Pakistan gained from the visits at the diplomatic and military levels. The visits brought clear diplomatic disadvantages for India when the US State Department declared Baloch separatist militant groups — which have received material and propaganda support from Indian intelligence and media — as global terrorist networks. This is a clear blow to the Indian position, which portrayed these militant groups as freedom fighters. Now, Indian intelligence will be aiding groups which have been declared terrorists by the United States. This appears as a major jolt to India’s diplomatic position on international terrorism. Till this declaration by the US State Department, Indians used to boast their position to be aligned with the global war against terrorism as all the groups which were targeting India had been declared terrorists by the US. Now India is facing a very difficult position when it and its intelligence agencies would be perceived as supporters of an international terrorist organisation, dubbed a terrorist by its closest ally, the United States.

But Pakistan has no reason to be complacent. US–India military ties have deep institutional and geopolitical bases. The United States and the military assistance it provided to India during the past ten years were the major reasons behind India's confidence and belligerence in its attitude, which led to the 7 May 2025 attack on Pakistani territory. We should remain aware of the fact that the conventional military balance between the Pakistani and Indian militaries is widening with each passing day to Pakistan’s disadvantage. The threat of Indians acting on the impulse — originating in the current trend of militarily powerful states browbeating relatively weaker states in the international system — of devastating weaker neighbours could not be ruled out. The US, Russia, Israel and France are supplying modern armament into the Indian inventory, India is flirting with dangerous military doctrines, and India's attempts to tamper with the nuclear deterrence relationship are not good signs for South Asian peace. US military assistance to India during the last ten years has played no small part in widening the conventional military gap between Pakistan and India.

Trump–Asim Munir Meeting Signals Possible Strategic Reset In US–Pakistan Relations

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