Pakistan piggybacks on Trump's quad visit to press for stopover in Islamabad

TOI correspondent from Washington: A political and diplomatic dogfight is underway over a prospective visit to Pakistan by US President Donald Trump en route to the Quad summit in India in September amid a gradual recalibration of ties in the region.

Pakistani business leaders and influencers are working overtime to convince the White House of a Trump visit after pulling off a coup by arranging a luncheon meeting last month for the country's army chief Asim Munir with the US President.

Munir charmed Trump by endorsing him for a Nobel Peace Prize, playing up to his craving for one, and the Pakistanis are now promising the US President more honors and trade access if he visits, despite having thrown itself at China's feet for survival.


Although the White House has not confirmed Trump's Quad attendance given New Delhi is yet to nail the dates -- which also depends on the leaders of Japan and Australia -- Pakistan's excitable media broadcast that the US President would visit Pakistan on September 18, before retracting the report because Trump will be on a state visit to the UK from September 17-19.

There are indications though that Trump may stopover in Pakistan whenever he heads out to the Quad summit. This could be as late as November given the MAGA supremo's obsession with trade deals over strategic alignments. He has just delivered a tariff shock to Japan and also riled up Australia, while India has proved to be a tough negotiator, frustrating his trade boffins attempts to strong-arm New Delhi into a quick deal.

In fact, Trump's fetish for tariffs and his fixation on trade deals puts a question mark over the strategic salience of the Quad even as long-time allies and partners adjust to his mercurial approach.

According to some diplomats, India itself may have to reassess its approach to Trump-era Washington after a rosy-eyed view of long-term strategic ties with the US. They acknowledge that Trump’s response during his second term to the Pakistani outreach – driven more by opportunism than any strategic vision – clearly caught India off guard. New Delhi resents the re-hyphenation that would be implicit in such a two-fer, but has no way of thwarting it.

If Trump does visit Pakistan, it will be the first US Presidential trip to the country in nearly two decades after George W Bush layover in 2006. Bush stopped by in Islamabad for a few hours under a tight security blanket on his way back from a three-day visit to New Delhi, talking up counter-terrorism cooperation with Pakistan while rejecting its pleas for a nuclear deal similar to the one he forged with India.

Presidents Obama and Biden both disdained even a stopover while Trump himself trashed Pakistan during his first term, accusing it of "nothing but lies & deceit" and providing "safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan."

Pakistan is now promising to turn itself into a safe haven for US businesses promoted by Trump associates -- including transforming Islamabad into the "crypto capital of South Asia" and a "global leader in the digital finance revolution,’ -- to land a Presidential visit.

During his first term, Trump is famously said to have complained about landing in Iraq and Afghanistan with the lights on Air Force One turned off (as a security measure), despite the US having spent billions on the countries. If the Pakistan stopover comes through, he may well insist on landing in full sight – to soak up the fanfare and flattery.