Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir are set for a bilateral meeting on Thursday, following the United Nations General Assembly meeting on Thursday, September 25. According to CNN, the meeting is expected to cover issues of regional and international peace and security. They will present Pakistan’s stance on terrorism, Islamophobia and sustainable development.
Pakistan’s leadership also met with the US on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, where Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had an informal conversation following the Arab-Islamic summit of the leaders, lasting less than a minute.
The meeting is at the highest level of diplomatic efforts amid the Israel-Qatar situation, massive floods in Pakistan, and the Pakistan-India situation. The intention for a meeting between Shehbaz Sharif and Donald Trump had been on the build-up for a long time. This marks the third time Asim Munir is heading to the United States, following the visit to the United Kingdom from September 18-23. The meeting of June between Asim Munir and Donald Trump was the first meeting after the India-Pakistan conflict of May.
Asim Munir, since his promotion as Field Marshal, following the Pakistan-India conflict, has been trying to push himself as a trustworthy middleman. With relations between India and the US on a decline, Pakistan's growing closeness with the US and its extension of nuclear umbrella to Saudi Arabia is seen as a broader push to portray itself as the leader of the Islamic states in the region.