Asim Munir to join Trump-Shehbaz talks on Sep 25: Why Pakistan’s 'No. 1' will be on India's radar

In what will once again put Pakistan’s power dynamics on display, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is expected to meet US President Donald later this month on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. According to Pakistani media outlet Geo News, the country’s powerful Army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir will join the talks.

The presence of a country’s army chief at a meeting between two heads of state is rare, but it sends a clear signal that Pakistan’s military still holds sway over the nation’s foreign and security policy.

The meeting, reportedly facilitated by Qatar and Saudi Arabia, is set to cover issues from Pakistan’s flood crisis to the fallout of Israeli actions in Qatar. Crucially, the India-Pakistan situation is also on the agenda, underlining how Washington’s overtures to Islamabad are increasingly being negotiated through Pakistan’s generals rather than its elected leaders.

Geo News and other Pakistani outlets have also reported that the tensions between India and Pakistan after the May skirmishes are also expected to feature in discussions with President Trump.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that he brokered peace between India and Pakistan in May this year. New Delhi has firmly rejected this, stressing that the ceasefire followed a request from Pakistan’s Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) to his Indian counterpart, not American intervention.

Pakistan’s military grip on Islamabad

The very presence of Munir alongside Sharif at such a high-level bilateral meeting reinforces what many observers have long argued: Pakistan’s civilian government is a facade for military decision-making. Munir, who rose rapidly through the ranks and now commands both the army and Pakistan’s vast intelligence apparatus, has become the real power centre in Islamabad. He has sidelined dissent within the ruling coalition, pushed through key economic and security decisions, and has effectively made the foreign ministry an extension of GHQ Rawalpindi. His appearance at the UNGA meeting signals to Washington and other capitals that if they want real commitments from Pakistan, they must deal directly with the army chief.

Trump’s overtures to Pakistan

Trump’s approach to Pakistan has been unusually warm compared to his predecessors. He has already met Munir at the White House, breaking protocol by granting the army chief a direct audience usually reserved for heads of state. That meeting paved the way for Washington’s announcement of a new trade package for Islamabad, including preferential access for Pakistani oil exports and exploratory agreements over mineral resources in Balochistan – a province mired in insurgency and human rights abuses. These moves have been celebrated in Islamabad as a diplomatic victory engineered by Munir rather than Sharif, deepening the perception that Pakistan’s military runs the show.

Why this alarms New Delhi

For India, the optics of Trump sitting down with both Sharif and Munir are troubling at a time when US-India relations are fraying over trade disputes and tariffs. New Delhi sees Washington’s courting of Pakistan, especially its military, as a throwback to the Cold War era when US aid underwrote Islamabad’s destabilising actions in the region.

The prospect of US-backed investment in Balochistan, and a potential oil arrangement that strengthens Pakistan’s economy, raises concerns in New Delhi that Washington is once again turning a blind eye to Pakistan’s role in fomenting terrorism across the border. With trade negotiations between India and the US stuck in limbo, Trump’s embrace of Pakistan’s generals could further alienate New Delhi at a delicate diplomatic moment.

India has weathered decades of US–Pakistan “romances” before, but the current moment is uniquely dangerous. With Pakistan’s domestic instability, economic desperation, and military dominance, the margin for miscalculation is dangerously thin.