When the world was condemning the Pahalgam terror attack, Pakistan Prime Minister Shabaz Sharif and the Chief of Army Staff Asim Munir were holding meetings with an American business delegation for working out cooperation between a US-based crypto-currency company, the World Liberty Financial (WLF). The WLF has Trump’s two sons and a daughter as 60 per cent shareholders.
It was on April 26, 2025, just four days after the Pahalgam terror attack that the WLF, represented by three senior officials Zachary Folkman, Chase Herro, and Zachary Witkoff, signed a letter of intent with the Pakistan Crypto Council to promote blockchain adoption, stablecoin use and DeFi integration in Pakistan. Trump has a lot of interest and stakes in the crypto business.
The meetings between the WLF officials and Pakistan Prime Minister and Chief of Staff must have been planned well in advance. Timing of the attack, just ahead of the scheduled meeting, may not just be a coincidence. Munir also made an aggressively hateful speech at the first Annual Convention of Overseas Pakistanis on April 15, just seven days ahead of the terror attack and 11 days ahead of the signing of the “crypto deal”. Munir’s confidence evidently had a reason and a background.
Not just the crypto deal, in January 2025 ahead of Donald Trump formally taking over as the US President, Gentry Beach, a close associate of Donald Trump Jr, visited Pakistan and expressed keen interest in investing in Pakistan’s real estate, energy, and mineral sectors through his company, White Bridge Real Estate. Beach has close family and business connections with the Trumps.
On July 30, Donald Trump announced a “deal” on his Truth Social media platform to develop massive oil reserves in Pakistan. “We have just concluded a Deal with the Country of Pakistan, whereby Pakistan and the United States will work together on developing their massive Oil Reserves. We are in the process of choosing the Oil Company that will lead this Partnership. Who knows, maybe they’ll be selling Oil to India some day!” he wrote. Maybe he chooses Gentry Beach’s company for the oil exploration in Pakistan, if he has not already done so.
As it turns out now, Donald Trump hosting a special and unprecedented lunch “in honour” of Pakistan army chief Asim Munir was not necessarily in connection with Iran operations. Trump, and for that matter everyone across the world knows who is in control of things in Pakistan, obviously decided to deal directly with the military chief instead of the civilian government. Trump is a known businessman. His politics and diplomacy are driven by business interests, including his own.
So far, he has clinched a deal on cryptocurrency and is on the way to signing another deal for oil exploration. That explains his unprecedented interest in and inclinations towards Pakistan. It is for the first time in a couple of decades that the United States has warmed up to Pakistan. Last it was during the US war on terror, which required it to use Pakistan air bases to bomb the Taliban who had shielded the 9/11 masterminds, including Bin Laden.
Interestingly, not a single Pakistani supported Trump’s presidency over his pronounced hatred for Muslims. He has already reimposed a ban on travel from several Islamic countries. But here again he has double standards. He strikes deals with countries like Qatar and Pakistan, while trying to intimidate Iran. Qatar and Pakistan are known supporters of terrorism across the globe. The ruling Qatar family is one of the biggest financiers of Hamas. It was also accused of having financed Al Qaeda and other Islamic extremist and terror groups.
But the Qatar ruling family knew how to win over someone like Trump. They gifted him a US$ 200 million jet, which he is going to use as Air Force one and after demitting his office, he will continue to use it as his personal plane.
Also read: Trump poses dual challenge to Modi; diplomatic, economic
It is not for the first time that Trump is striking such deals to look the other way. When Saudi crown prince Mohammad Bin Salman (MBS) was found to be involved in the brutal killing of Saudi-origin US citizen Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi embassy in Istanbul, the Saudi government made a payment of US$ 100 million, apparently for helping to stabilize parts of Syria, which had been “liberated” from Assad’s control.
If Trump is now cozying up to Pakistan despite its globally known role in terror incidents and protecting and shielding terrorists like Osama Bin Laden and Hafiz Sayeed, there is obviously an irrefutable trade and business angle to it. Bin Laden was killed by special US forces inside Pakistan where he was hiding for several years under Pakistan army’s protection.
Trump’s frequent but unsubstantiated claims of bringing in a ceasefire between India and Pakistan are obviously aimed at suggesting that he has done a favour to Pakistan. Pakistan was badly getting hit in its conflict with India. After its initial and again unsubstantiated claims of having downed some Indian fighter jets, Pakistan felt badly mauled by Indian Air Force bombardments. Its air defence system was badly hit and it was left with no option but to seek a ceasefire, in the process even using the nuclear blackmail.
India has repeatedly rejected Trump’s claims of having mediated a ceasefire between the two countries. Prime Minister Narendra Modi made it categorically clear in the Parliament that no world leader, without naming anyone, including Trump, asked him to end the war. And Trump’s obvious aim appears to be telling Pakistan repeatedly that he helped in the ceasefire and wants the country to feel obliged. And not for any hidden reasons. He certainly has a lot of business interests in Pakistan like the crypto currency and mineral exploration.
The Pakistan government, particularly its military establishment led by Asim Munir, is clearly trying to leverage those interests of Trump. It will not be any surprise if Munir exploits these interests further as he knows it very well how to keep Trump in good humour.
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