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The offer has been floated with some US officials, and was shared with Munir ahead of a meeting with Donald Trump in the White House late last month, according to two civilian advisers to the army chief who both asked not to be named. But a senior Trump administration official said the US president and his advisers had not discussed such a proposal.<\/p>\n
The scheme is one of several ideas floated publicly and privately by Pakistani officials to maintain momentum with the Trump administration. They include engagement with a Trump-backed crypto venture, deepening co-operation against Afghanistan-based militant group Isis-K, endorsement of his Gaza peace plan and access to critical minerals.<\/p>\n
Munir and Trump have forged what US and Pakistani diplomats are referring to as \u201ca bromance\u201d since the American president claimed credit in May for a ceasefire that ended the worst fighting<\/a> between Pakistan and India in decades.<\/p>\n After two decades of warming ties with India<\/a>, the US has over the summer publicly sparred with New Delhi. While India has rejected Trump\u2019s claims of involvement in the ceasefire, Munir and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif have publicly thanked him and nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize.<\/p>\n In return, Trump has lavished praise on Pakistan\u2019s army chief. After their latest meeting last month, the White House released pictures of Munir and Sharif presenting the US leader with a display case of mineral samples.<\/p>\n \u201cThe whole narrative [of the US-Pakistan] relationship changed after the war,\u201d said one of the advisers, who has been involved in back-channel contacts with the Trump circle for more than a year.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was very bad before then. We had not tended the relationship as we should have,\u201d the adviser said. \u201cIn the last two decades the Indians occupied the space in the vacuum.\u201d<\/p>\n The proposed port at Pasni would be linked to a new railway to transport minerals from Pakistan\u2019s interior, the advisers said, in particular copper and antimony, a vital ingredient in batteries, fire-retardant and missiles.<\/p>\n A blueprint anticipated the port would cost up to $1.2bn with a proposed financing model that would be a mix of Pakistani federal and US-backed development finance.<\/p>\n Advocates of the plan see it as a way of hedging the country\u2019s position on the global stage as it seeks to balance a constellation of diplomatic ties<\/a> with China, the US, Iran and Saudi Arabia, with which Islamabad signed a security pact last month. <\/p>\n \u201cPasni\u2019s proximity to Iran and Central Asia enhances US options for trade and security\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009Engagement at Pasni would counterbalance Gwadar\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009and expand US influence in the Arabian Sea and Central Asia,\u201d according to the blueprint.<\/p>\n \u201cChina\u2019s Gwadar investments under the Belt and Road Initiative raise dual-use concerns,\u201d it added, in an apparent allusion to US concerns Gwadar could serve as a Chinese naval base, a suggestion denied by Islamabad and Beijing.<\/p>\n On Saturday a senior Pakistani military official said the chief of Army staff \u201cdoes not have any advisers in an official capacity\u201d. The official added that the port idea \u201csurfaced in private discussions\u201d with US businesses and had not been \u201csubmitted through official channels\u201d and \u201cremains a commercial idea pending appropriate consideration\u201d.<\/p>\n China is traditionally Pakistan\u2019s closest partner, providing much of its armoury and billions of dollars of loans and investments. Pakistan used China-supplied aircraft<\/a> and weapons systems to shoot down up to six Indian aircraft in May.<\/p>\n The blueprint said the Pasni plan excluded \u201cdirect basing\u201d, which the advisers said meant the port would not serve as a US military installation.<\/p>\n America was a close ally during the cold war and after the September 11 2001 terrorist attacks on the US, but ties frayed over Pakistan\u2019s support for the Taliban during the Washington-led war in Afghanistan. Now it is keen to refashion links focusing on investments and trade.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been telling our leaders we need to diversify from China,\u201d one of the Pakistani advisers said, while maintaining the decades-old bond with Beijing. \u201cWe don\u2019t need to consult the Chinese as it\u2019s outside the Gwadar concession.\u201d<\/p>\n In an early indication of US interest in Pakistan\u2019s mineral sector, Missouri-based company US Strategic Metals in September signed a memorandum of understanding with Pakistan\u2019s military engineering arm to boost collaboration. <\/p>\n Mike Hollomon, USSM commercial director, said the company aspired to set up a refinery and last month met directors of Pakistan\u2019s two major ports at and near Karachi, as well as a representative from Gwadar during a visit to the South Asian country.<\/p>\n Hollomon added that USSM had heard talk of a possible port project near Pasni. The town had a natural deep-water port and could be linked by rail to Reko Diq, a copper and gold mine<\/a> being developed by Canada\u2019s Barrick Mining, so it made \u201ca lot of sense\u201d to set up a facility in the area, he said.<\/p>\n Recommended<\/p>\n \u201cIn our conversations with the field marshal, he stressed that Pakistan has been an ally of the US for a long time and minerals is a way to rekindle a dormant friendship,\u201d Hollomon said.<\/p>\n Late last month, Pakistan shipped a modest first consignment of fewer than two tonnes of critical and rare earth minerals to USSM that included copper, antimony and neodymium. The price of antimony has soared<\/a> since Beijing imposed a ban on selling it to the US late last year.<\/p>\n![\"Closely](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/https:\/\/d1e00ek4ebabms.cloudfront.net\/production\/f087ecbd-e0fd-4eed-8d2b-a2f5ccf85584.jpg\")
Washington is concerned that China\u2019s development of the port at Gwadar could be used as a naval base for Beijing \u00a9 Asim Hafeez\/Bloomberg<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/https:\/\/images.ft.com\/v3\/image\/raw\/https%3A%2F%2Fd1e00ek4ebabms.cloudfront.net%2Fproduction%2F45a152.jpeg\")
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