Rare earth for rare favour: How Asim Munir played 'salesman' in Oval Office as Shehbaz smiled on

Pakistan’s fragile democracy is once again under the scanner after a fiery intervention in its Senate exposed the Army’s overreach in foreign policy. Senator Aimal Wali Khan tore into Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir’s high-profile White House meeting, questioning not only the gifting of Pakistan’s rare earth minerals to US President Donald Trump but also the very constitutional legitimacy of his trip.

The rare photograph of Munir handing Trump a wooden box filled with minerals, with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif smiling in the background, has triggered uproar in Islamabad. For many, it is yet another reminder that civilian leaders in Pakistan have been reduced to spectators while the Army sells off the country’s resources for political survival abroad.

On the Senate floor, K