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How Pakistan won over the White House
Officials have fought for and found favour despite rocky relationship during Trump’s first term

It was not just that Pakistan delivered a key suspect accused of plotting a bombing that killed 13 US personnel during the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.

They also had the prisoner on a plane ready for prime time.

“Tonight, I am pleased to announce that we have just apprehended the top terrorist responsible for that atrocity, and he is right now on his way here to face the swift sword of American justice,” Donald Trump told a joint session of Congress in March, the biggest set-piece speech of his early second presidency.

“And I want to thank, especially, the government of Pakistan for helping arrest this monster.”

Pakistan had a rocky relationship with Mr Trump during his first administration. He accused its government of “lies and deceit” for the way it took American money while providing “safe havens” for Taliban groups fighting the US.

But this time around, it has fought for and won a favoured position.

Although both Pakistan and India have spent millions of dollars on US lobbying contracts after border clashes, employing some of Mr Trump’s closest associates, it is Islamabad that has won an edge in Washington over its arch-rival.

It received better tariff rates than many other countries, and its army chief of staff and prime minister have won face time in the Oval Office.

Pakistan has done this with a massive charm offensive, nominating Mr Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize and signing deals to open its mineral reserves to the US.

None of that would have been possible without the signal it sent in March by helping the Trump administration fulfil one of its top goals.

Sebastian Gorka, Mr Trump’s senior director for counter-terrorism, had written two priorities at the top of his whiteboard on his first day in office: “hostages” and “J”.

The “J” stood for Jafar, the nom de guerre of a senior terrorist leader in Isis-K, an Isis affiliate group based in Afghanistan known as Isis-Khorasan.

On March 2, in a sealed court filing, the US charged Mohammad Sharifullah, allegedly also known as Jafar, with orchestrating the attack on Kabul airport’s main Abbey gate as American troops withdrew.

Two days later he was on a plane for Washington as Mr Trump delivered his speech.

A senior Pakistani official said that was the moment when Islamabad’s relationship with the Trump administration changed.

“That was the most important step,” he said.

A former senior Trump administration official agreed.

“That was a significant accomplishment so early on, and it reflects well on Pakistan’s intention to work closely with the administration,” he said.

The next key moment came in April when terrorists killed 26 tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir. India blamed armed groups it said were backed by Pakistan, and launched missile strikes on its neighbour.

Pakistan responded with air strikes and artillery, threatening all-out war between the two nuclear powers.

It ended with a post on Truth Social, Mr Trump’s online network:



The responses of the rivals may have sealed their standing in Washington.

Indian officials denied any US role in mediation.

Vikram Misri, India’s foreign secretary, said: “Prime Minister Modi emphasised that India has not accepted mediation in the past and will never do.”

Pakistan nominated Mr Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize.

“Pakistan is willing to do flattery,” said Michael Kugelman, senior fellow for South Asia at Atlantic Council.

“Many countries are not, including India.

“And I would also argue that we’ve seen some reports in recent weeks that Pakistan’s government has hired some very powerful lobbyists that have access to Trump and his people.”

As war loomed in South Asia, India and Pakistan recruited teams in Washington.

India took on Jason Miller, the Trump campaign’s former communications adviser. Pakistan spent at least three times as much, according to paperwork filed with the Department of Justice.

Two days after the attack in Kashmir, it recruited the firm Javelin Advisors, set up by two long-time Trump confidants, Keith Schiller, who rose from being the president’s bodyguard to director of Oval Office operations during the first term, and George Sorial, a former executive with the Trump family firm.

Mr Sorial declined to comment on how they advised the Pakistani government other than to say: “We support the Trump administration’s ‘America First’ agenda by building global alliances that advance prosperity in the United States and throughout the free world – strength through economic diplomacy.”

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