The American magazine The National Interest has highlighted that Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir’s steady and consistent approach has resonated well with US President Donald Trump.
“Widely regarded as a steady hand in an often turbulent region, Munir’s consistency in both strategic outlook and messaging appealed to Trump’s craving for predictability beneath the theatrics,” read the magazine’s article published on August 26.
The magazine maintained that for years, India sat comfortably in Washington’s “good graces”, however, “the script began to flip”, when President Trump praised Pakistan for counter-terrorism cooperation during his first joint address to Congress on March 05, 2025.
The magazine maintained that following General Munir’s meeting with President Trump in White House in late June, the relationship between both countries “flowered”, adding, “a month later, Trump doubled down on his new ‘bromance’ with General Munir, while touting great economic deals with Pakistan,” distancing himself from India by punishing it economically as the US imposed massive 50 percent tariffs on Indian goods.
After Pakistan shot down Indian fighter jets in early May, the magazine says Indian Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi came under domestic pressure and he might attempt choking off the Indus River and its tributaries, which flow from Northern India into Pakistan, to avenge, an act Islamabad has already clarified would be considered an act of war.
The magazine said that when Indian premier Modi launched an attack on Pakistan in May in the wake of the April 22 Pahalgam incident in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), he intended to demonstrate Indian military superiority; however, “the gamble partially backfired” when Pakistan downed a number of Indian fighter jets in the ensuing dogfights before agreeing to a ceasefire.
Pakistan has claimed to have shot down six Indian fighter jets, including Rafales, on the night of May 6-7, when the latter launched strikes in Pakistan, killing civilians.
In an interview with Bloomberg Television during the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore earlier June, India’s Chief of Defence Staff, General Anil Chauhan, had admitted that Indian aircraft were downed during the May conflict with Pakistan.
