The Anointment of an Ally: General Munir’s U.S. Pilgrimage

In Washington’s imperial theatre—where regimes are stage-managed and allegiances sold—a carefully choreographed ritual took place. General Asim Munir, Pakistan’s top military commander, did not arrive as the emissary of an independent nation but as a loyal steward of a dependent state. With gleaming boots, a borrowed resolve, and the Qur’an under his arm, he entered not into diplomacy, but into ritual submission. This was not a state visit—it was a political Umrah, performed not in Mecca, but in the polished corridors of American dominion.

What unfolded wasn’t a discreet dialogue—it was a symbolic enthronement, masked in protocol. Munir, a general who rules with sermons as much as with arms, has transformed Pakistan’s military from a force into a theocratic landlordship. Once, Pakistan’s generals monopolized firepower; Munir has added religious performance to the mix. And Washington, ever eager to decorate dependable autocrats, welcomed him not as a guest, but as a trusted vassal.

U.S. CENTCOM chief General Michael Kurilla extolled Munir before Congress, hailing Pakistan as a “phenomenal partner in the counterterrorism world.” The irony is acid. For years, Pakistan’s generals have curated terrorism not as a threat, but as a resource—raising extremists for selective deployment: to Afghanistan, to Kashmir, or to the highest bidder. That they now collect rewards for countering what they once nurtured is no coincidence—it is the logic of empire at work.

Munir’s mission in Washington was not nostalgia—it was renewal. A reaffirmation of Pakistan’s role as a subcontractor in the architecture of American power. His message was clear, composed, and unmistakable: Pakistan remains a faithful junior partner, fluent in the language of moral virtue, yet skilled in the art of moral compromise.

Consider Gaza. As Israeli airstrikes decimate a captive population and Western leaders flounder in their double standards, Pakistan issues its habitual statements—formulaic, toothless, and meant to pacify. Munir’s administration mourns Palestinians on press releases while quietly flirting with Tel Aviv. The Pakistani military elite has perfected the act: perform piety for the public, but never provoke discomfort for their benefactors.