President Donald Trump’s private lunch with Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff Syed Asim Munir Wednesday afternoon at the White House, much to India’s discomfort, proves yet again what needs no proving—that Islamabad’s political leadership is just a sideshow and the US-Pakistan strategic alliance remains strong.

For the U.S. president to host Pakistan’s Army chief - there are not many foreign army chiefs that a US president will host a lunch for - a recently-minted field marshal, while that country’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif watches from 7000-plus miles, says everything about the power dynamic in the South Asian nation. 

This is a private lunch closed to the press, which means that what transpires during it is unlikely to be shared other than perhaps in a tightly controlled fashion by both sides. It comes in the midst of Trump’s less than subtle warning to Iran’s leadership to surrender or else. It is conceivable that the primary focus of the lunch in the Cabinet Room would be on Iran and what Pakistan can play in the war with Israel that is looking increasingly dangerous.

Islamabad's support for Tehran

Officially, Sharif has expressed strong support for Iran. In a social media post over the weekend, he said he had spoken with Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, “to express Pakistan’s unwavering solidarity with the brotherly people of Iran in the face of Israel’s unprovoked aggression.” Sharif also cast the war in the larger Muslim context saying, “We agreed that the international community, particularly the Ummah, must act together to halt these grave violations.” The Ummah refers to the global Muslim community beyond regional and international boundaries.

This is even as Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said on Monday that Iran is willing to negotiate if Israel chooses not to carry out more strikes based on his communication with Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi.  “Our intention was always to see successful negotiations between the United States and Iran,” Dar said in parliament.

With this as the backdrop the Trump-Munir lunch could well be focused on Iran but there are other specific areas in which the president is personally interested in. They are rare minerals as well as crypto. Given Munir’s obsession with Kashmir, it is expected that he would raise the subject as well, particularly in the aftermath of the near warlike military exchange between India and Pakistan.

For New Delhi, the lunch is a matter of great concern as perceptions have grown that President Trump has rehyphenated India and Pakistan in the conduct of his foreign policy for the region. India has worked assiduously for at least two decades and more to position itself not just as the South Asian leader but a rising global power and economy which is in a league of its own and far above Pakistan.

Optics not to India's liking

There is nothing India can do to dissuade Trump from engaging with Pakistan generally and Munir particularly. At this stage, the best course for New Delhi is to reinvigorate aspects of its non-aligned approach even while maintaining mature relations with Washington. It might be a mistake to read too much into the private lunch in terms of its overall impact on the Trump administration’s approach towards the region.

The optics of the lunch are certainly not to India’s liking, but its consequences may not turn out to be as unsettling as might be apprehended in certain quarters. It surely gives Pakistan a profile in Washington that it was craving to have. For Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government it does not have to be more than a passing development if it chooses to draw on India’s civilizational and constitutional strengths and its growing economic and strategic clout. That may be some 'if' to surmount.

(The writer is a Chicago-based journalist, author and commentator. Views expressed are personal. He can be reached mcsix@outlook.com)