US President Donald Trump has once again praised Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff and Chief of Defence Forces, Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, calling him a “highly respected” figure while reiterating his claim that Washington helped prevent a full-scale war between Pakistan and India.
Speaking at an event in Florida on Monday alongside Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Secretary of the Navy John Phelan, Trump said the United States had stopped a potential nuclear conflict between the two neighbours.“We stopped a potential nuclear war between Pakistan and India,” Trump said in response to a question, adding that Field Marshal Munir and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had credited him with saving “10 million lives” by helping defuse the crisis. Referring to the military escalation earlier this year, Trump said, “Eight planes were shot down. That war was going to rage,” and claimed he has so far helped stop eight wars globally.
The remarks were made during a press conference held to unveil plans for a new “Trump class” of battleships as part of an expanded US naval buildup. Trump has repeatedly taken credit for easing tensions between the two nuclear-armed rivals, which have fought three wars since independence and remain locked in a long-running dispute over Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).
In May, Pakistan and India were involved in their most serious military confrontation in decades, triggered by a terrorist attack on tourists in IIOJK’s Pahalgam area. New Delhi blamed Pakistan for the attack, a claim Islamabad strongly denied.
Following the incident, India carried out what Pakistan described as unprovoked attacks over three days, resulting in civilian casualties. Pakistan responded with Operation Bunyanum Marsoos, during which it said it downed seven Indian Air Force jets, including three Rafales, along with dozens of drones.
After nearly 87 hours of fighting, the conflict ended on May 10 with a ceasefire brokered by the United States.US–Pakistan relations have since shown signs of improvement under Trump, after years in which Washington had largely viewed India as a strategic counterweight to China.
In June, Trump held a rare one-on-one lunch meeting with Field Marshal Munir at the White House, thanking him for his role in ending the conflict. In September, Trump also met Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the army chief at the Oval Office, describing both leaders as “great people” ahead of the meeting.Trump continued his praise in October during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Gyeongju, South Korea, calling Field Marshal Munir a “great fighter” and commending both Pakistani civilian and military leadership for promoting regional stability.
While noting his strong ties with India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Trump said he also held Pakistan’s leadership in high regard. “These are two nuclear nations, and they were really going at it,” he remarked. Islamabad has publicly credited President Trump for the US-brokered ceasefire and has even nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize. Since the conflict, Pakistan and the United States have increased high-level civilian and military engagements and have finalised a closely watched trade deal, signalling a warming of bilateral relations.
