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Donald Trump to visit Islamabad? White House breaks silence: ‘Trip to Pakistan…’
Donald Trump hosted Pakistan Army chief Asim Munir at the White House, a rare meeting that signals growing contact between the US and Pakistan.
In a diplomatic slip that echoed across Pakistani airwaves, two of the country’s leading news channels retracted reports on Thursday claiming that US President Donald Trump was planning a visit to Pakistan in September, a claim swiftly denied by the White House.
Geo News and ARY News initially reported the purported trip, but both later withdrew the story after the White House clarified that “a trip to Pakistan has not been scheduled at this time.”
Earlier in the day, both channels had broadcast that Donald Trump was expected to visit the South Asian nation later this year. However, the reports were pulled after Pakistan’s foreign office said it had no knowledge of any such visit.
Geo News, in a statement issued later, said, “Geo News apologises to its viewers for airing the news without a verification.”
An ARY senior management official told Reuters that their channel had also retracted the claim after cross-checking with diplomatic sources.
If the visit had been confirmed, it would have marked the first by a US President to Pakistan since George W Bush’s trip in 2006.
While the Trump report turned out to be false, relations between the United States and Pakistan have warmed in recent months. In an unprecedented development last month, Trump hosted Pakistan’s Army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, at the White House, a meeting seen by analysts as a signal of growing engagement between the two nations.
Following the visit of Pakistan’s army chief Asim Munir, the country’s Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmed Babar Sidhu, also undertook an official trip to the United States to boost bilateral defence cooperation.
This marked the first visit by a serving Pakistan Air Force (PAF) chief to the US in over a decade, signalling an upswing in military engagements between the two countries.
“The Chief of the Air Staff of Pakistan Air Force, Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmed Babar Sidhu, paid an official visit to the US, the first visit by any serving Air Chief of the Pakistan Air Force in over a decade, which will further enhance bilateral defence cooperation and mutual interests,” a PAF statement said.
