US President Donald Trump hosted Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Field Marshal Asim Munir at the Oval Office in Washington, DC during the early hours of Friday morning.
US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio were also present, a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) after the meeting said. It added that the meeting was held in a pleasant atmosphere.
Photos released after the meeting showed both PM Shehbaz and Field Marshal Munir exchanging views with Trump. Trump was also all smiles as he flashed his signature thumbs up sign during a group photo.
The meeting, which was closed to the press, was originally slated to begin at 4:30pm Washington time (1:30am PST) but was delayed by approximately 30 minutes as the US president spoke to reporters after signing executive orders. The meeting itself lasted approximately one hour and 20 minutes.
Photos from the White House press pool before it began showed PM Shehbaz and Field Marshal Munir waiting patiently on the Oval Office’s gold-gilded furniture as, across the room, the US president wrapped up his previous engagement.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif waits for US President Donald Trump to finish signing executive orders ahead of their meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC on September 25. — AFP
The army chief could also be seen speaking to White House staffers as media personnel packed up their equipment. When US Secretary of State Rubio entered the room, he could be seen enthusiastically greeting both leaders.
The visit, the first formal bilateral interaction between the two leaders, comes six years after former premier Imran Khan met Trump during the latter’s first term in July 2019.
Speaking to reporters before the meeting, Trump said that a “great leader” was coming to the White House.
“We’ve got the prime minister of Pakistan coming and the field marshal … [he’s] a great, great guy and so is the prime minister, both,” he told reporters.
President Trump was also conscious of the delay, telling the media: “They are coming and they may be in this room right now. I don’t know because we are late.”
The meeting itself, however, was closed to the press — a break from Trump’s usual modus operandi, as he is known for inviting select cameras and reporters into the Oval Office for photo-ops.
Radio Pakistan reported earlier that the two were “expected to discuss matters of mutual interest as well as regional and global situation”.
The development comes as the premier is in the US for the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York. During his whirlwind tour, PM Shehbaz has attended UNGA sessions, a key multilateral summit of the Muslim bloc, as well as side meetings with the heads of international financial institutions in New York.
The premier will now make his way back to New York, as he is due to address the UN General Assembly on Friday.
‘Pak-US ties gradually warming up’
Earlier, at a media briefing in New York, a senior State Department official told Dawn that ties between Washington and Islamabad were “gradually warming up” in Trump’s second term.
For years, the United States had viewed India as a counterweight to China’s growing influence in Asia, while Pakistan was seen as a close Chinese ally.
Since Trump returned to office in January 2025, US relations with India have come under strain over visa hurdles for Indians, steep tariffs imposed by Washington on Indian goods, and the president’s repeated claim that he personally brokered an India-Pakistan ceasefire in May following cross-border hostilities.
The senior official emphasised that US relations with Pakistan were not tied to its partnership with India.
“We have an independent relationship with Pakistan,” he said, recalling recent American investments worth hundreds of millions of dollars in Pakistan’s mineral sector, and noting continued US interest in petroleum exploration.
Responding to a question, the official added that Washington was still reviewing the recently concluded defence deal between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.
On July 31, the two countries announced a trade agreement under which the US imposed a 19 per cent tariff on Pakistani goods. Trump has yet to finalise a similar deal with India. Analysts note that in response to tensions with Washington, New Delhi has begun recalibrating its ties with China as a hedge.
Earlier this year, Trump welcomed Field Marshal Munir to the White House — the first time a US president hosted Pakistan’s military leader without senior civilian officials present, underscoring the military’s central role in bilateral relations.
“We’re working through a number of issues when it comes to counterterrorism, when it comes to economic and trade ties,” the senior State Department official said when asked about Pakistan.
“And so the president remains focused on advancing US interests in the region, that includes through engaging with Pakistan and their government leaders.”
On India, the official said Trump believed in being frank about frustrations in the relationship but still considered it strong. Washington, he added, continued to see New Delhi as “a good friend and partner” whose ties with the US would “define the 21st century”.
Islamabad has publicly backed Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to defuse tensions with India, even as it has condemned Israeli bombardments in Gaza, Qatar and Iran.
Prime Minister Sharif also joined Trump on Tuesday in a meeting with leaders of several Muslim-majority countries, where the US president discussed Israel’s assault on Gaza and shared American peace proposals on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
PM Shehbaz meets Bangladesh’s Yunus
Prior to the meeting with Trump, PM Shehbaz also met Bangladesh’s chief adviser, Muhammad Yunus, in New York, according to state broadcaster Radio Pakistan.
In this meeting, the premier reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to strengthening “constructive and forward-looking ties” with Bangladesh, rooted in mutual respect, trust and shared aspirations of regional peace and prosperity, the Radio Pakistan report said.
The two leaders reviewed the current state of Pakistan-Bangladesh bilateral relations, discussing ways to strengthen cooperation in areas including trade, regional connectivity and people-to-people exchanges, it added.
For his part, Yunus appreciated Pakistan’s initiative to deepen engagement and highlighted the importance of enhancing bilateral trade and cultural linkage, it said.
