Islamabad, Pakistan – Hours before a two-week ceasefire between the United States and Iran was due to expire on Wednesday, US President Donald Trump announced its extension. He named those who had urged him to do so: Pakistan’s defence forces chief, Asim Munir, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

“Based on the fact that the Government of Iran is seriously fractured,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, “and upon the request of Field Marshal Asim Munir, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, of Pakistan, we have been asked to hold our attack.”

It was the latest public shoutout from Trump for Pakistan’s leadership, Munir in particular, over their role in attempting to mediate an end to the war between the US and Iran.

On April 8, the US and Iran announced a Pakistan-mediated two-week ceasefire. That came about following hectic backchannel negotiations, including direct consultations Munir held with US Vice President JD Vance, Trump’s Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.

On April 11, Munir welcomed the Vance-led US delegation and the Iranian team led by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf as they landed in Islamabad for the first round of direct talks between the two nations.

After those talks failed to yield a breakthrough, Munir undertook a three-day visit to Tehran, the first regional military leader to travel to the Iranian capital since the US-Israel war on Iran began on February 28, attempting to bridge the gulf in the positions adopted by Washington and Tehran.

But even as Munir is today being cited by Trump as a peacemaker between the US and Iran, the military chief’s global rise was rooted in events that occurred a year ago, which led to a four-day war between India and Pakistan.

On April 22, 2025, armed men killed 26 tourists, most of them Hindu men, in Baisaran Valley in Indian-administered Kashmir’s Pahalgam. India blamed Pakistan. Islamabad denied involvement and called for an independent investigation. Within two weeks, the two nuclear-armed neighbours were at war.

The year since has marked a period of rapid transformation in Pakistan’s political and military landscape. Munir has risen from four-star general to field marshal, and then to the country’s first chief of defence forces (CDF), amid domestic criticism from opposition parties, before now emerging as the central figure in one of Pakistan’s most consequential diplomatic moments in decades.

The war that changed everything

After the Pahalgam attack, India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, 2025, striking targets inside Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

Pakistan responded, saying it had downed multiple Indian jets, losses New Delhi later partially acknowledged. The South Asian neighbours exchanged drone and missile attacks and artillery fire until a ceasefire was reached on May 10 through backchannel diplomacy involving Washington.

Trump repeatedly claimed credit, saying so dozens of times. Pakistan thanked him and nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize. India, on the other hand, denied Trump’s claims and insisted that the ceasefire was the result of bilateral communication with Pakistan — New Delhi’s policy rejects third-party involvement in bilateral disputes with Islamabad.

On May 20, Pakistan’s federal cabinet unanimously approved Munir’s promotion to field marshal, crediting his leadership during the war with India. This made him only the second officer in the country’s history to hold the rank after Ayub Khan. Unlike Ayub, Munir also retained his position as chief of army staff.

Imran Khan, former head of the US Institute of Peace (USIP) and geopolitical analyst, said the conflict with India proved pivotal for Munir’s global rise, although its roots lay in domestic developments.

“The May 2025 conflict with India was pivotal for Munir’s rise on the global stage. In an era of middle powers and great-power competition, everyone noticed. Given the broader backsliding of democracy globally, nobody was particularly focused on civil-military imbalance in Pakistan,” he told Al Jazeera.

“They saw a powerful leader of a nuclear-armed, Muslim-majority swing state. There was serendipity to it too: when Pakistan demonstrated its capabilities against India, Trump was in power – a president who responds to strength – and the rules-based order was already showing cracks,” analyst Khan said.

The Washington opening

On June 18, amid the 12-day Israel-Iran war that also involved the US, Trump hosted Munir for lunch at the White House, the first time a US president had privately received a Pakistani military chief without the civilian leadership present.

The meeting lasted more than double the scheduled one hour in the Oval Office.

Trump described Munir as “a great fighter” and “a very important guy”, adding he was “honoured” to meet him. He later noted publicly that Pakistanis “know Iran very well, better than most”.

The groundwork had been laid months earlier. Pakistan coordinated with the US Central Command (CENTCOM) on the capture of a suspect linked to the Abbey Gate bombing, an operation Trump cited before the US Congress in March.

Islamabad also sought to broaden ties with Washington through offers linked to rare earth minerals and cryptocurrency cooperation.

Crucially, analysts say Pakistan maintained channels with the US and Iran, making it one of the few countries able to communicate with both sides during and after the 12-Day War.

Munir was back in Washington, DC, in September alongside Sharif for meetings that also included Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

At the October summit in Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh, where a Gaza ceasefire was signed, Trump turned to Sharif and referred to Munir as “my favourite field marshal”.

Qamar Cheema, executive director of the Islamabad-based Sanober Institute, said Munir’s standing had been building well before the Pahalgam attack.

“Army chief Asim Munir’s standing was already established when he built his credentials by reaching out to many nations in the Middle East for macroeconomic stability and by keeping Pakistan engaged with other powers,” he told Al Jazeera.

He acknowledged that the conflict with India accelerated that trajectory.

“He is privy to so many things. Considering his appointments and his present leverage – his access to the Oval Office – Iranians understand that he is the best person to convey their messages and bring them a good deal with the Americans,” he said.

Khan, the Washington, DC-based analyst, traced Munir’s consolidation of power to an earlier moment.

“The story of Munir’s rise starts on May 9, 2023, long before Pahalgam. The political riots and attacks on military installations that day gave the then-army chief the opportunity to consolidate power by decisively dealing with his biggest internal political challenge,” he said.

The date refers to the unrest that followed the arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, with protests targeting military sites, including the corps commander’s residence in Lahore and the general headquarters in Rawalpindi. The military responded with widespread arrests and a years-long crackdown against the former PM and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, marking a decisive shift in the balance of power.

Constitutional consolidation

In November 2025, parliament passed the 27th Constitutional Amendment. It created the post of CDF, held concurrently by the army chief, placing the army, navy, air force and the strategic plans division under a unified command.

The amendment made the rank of field marshal permanent for life and granted a five-star officer lifetime immunity from prosecution.

It also reset Munir’s tenure. Instead of retiring in November 2027, he began a five-year term as CDF, extending his service to at least November 2030, with the possibility of further extension.

Removing the CDF requires a two-thirds parliamentary majority, whereas unseating an elected prime minister requires only a simple majority.

The bill passed the Senate in 16 minutes, amid protests from opposition lawmakers aligned with the jailed former PM, Khan.

The government said the changes reflected lessons from the four-day conflict with India, arguing that modern warfare demands integrated command.

Sanober Institute’s Cheema said what may look from the outside like a consolidation of power is, “in my understanding, something different”.

“All institutions essentially believe that the military is doing work that others could not, and that Pakistan should take advantage of that strength. Pakistan is not globally relevant because of its GDP or because of particularly strong democratic credentials; its relevance is rooted in its military, which functions as both hard and soft power,” he said.

But a retired three-star general offered a different view on what this consolidation meant.

“External validation in this context makes domestic consolidation more dangerous, not less, precisely because it wraps concentration of power in the language of national success,” he told Al Jazeera, speaking on condition of anonymity because of concerns over repercussions for what might be perceived as criticism of Munir, seen as the most powerful person in Pakistan.

“It becomes easier to say, ‘Look, the world approves; therefore, this model is working’, while the long-term health of institutions quietly deteriorates,” he said.

On September 9, 2025, Israeli warplanes struck a compound in Doha, targeting Hamas leadership during discussions on a US ceasefire proposal. It marked the first Israeli attack on a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) state.

Eight days later, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed a Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement in Riyadh, with Munir present alongside Sharif and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS).

The pact commits each country to treat an attack on one as an attack on both. It is the first such agreement Pakistan has signed, and Munir is seen as its driving force.

In December, visiting Riyadh again, Munir received the King Abdulaziz Medal of the First Class – recognition, the citation said, of his efforts to advance bilateral relations.

But Munir was not only strengthening ties with Gulf nations in the Middle East.

In May 2025, he travelled to Iran with Sharif and met Major-General Mohammad Bagheri, chief of the Iranian military’s general staff. Bagheri was killed weeks later, on June 13, in Israeli air strikes, one of several senior Iranian commanders killed in the opening phase of the 12-Day War.

When the US and Israel launched their offensive on February 28, Pakistan faced competing pressures: its defence pact with Saudi Arabia, its border and historical ties with Iran, and its growing relationship with Washington.

Islamabad responded on multiple fronts.

On March 7, Munir travelled to Riyadh to meet Saudi Defence Minister Khalid bin Salman Al Saud. He returned on March 12 with Sharif for talks with the crown prince, MBS.

During the final days of March, Munir held repeated conversations with Trump. On March 24, Pakistan formally offered to host talks between the US and Iran. A day later, Pakistani officials delivered a 15-point US proposal to Iran.

On March 29, the foreign ministers of Pakistan, Turkiye, Egypt and Saudi Arabia met in Islamabad for the second time in 10 days to explore a diplomatic off-ramp.

With tensions escalating and Trump’s deadline approaching, a ceasefire was announced on April 8, negotiated by Munir, Vance, Witkoff and Araghchi. Pakistan’s objective was limited: not a final deal, but enough common ground to sustain dialogue.

Though the first round of direct talks on April 11 did not lead to a breakthrough, Pakistan’s military and civilian leadership have since attempted to keep diplomatic negotiations alive.

Despite the blossoming US-Pakistan relationship, a retired two-star general who spoke to Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity, said Munir and the broader establishment understood that a weakened Iran would create direct problems for Pakistan.

“If Iran is gone or in a bad shape, there will be a lot of Israeli influence. India and Israel collaborated in Operation Sindoor; that is not a secret now. So if Iran is weakened, we will have a situation on our western border too,” he said, referring to how India used Israeli missiles, air defence systems and drones during the May 2025 war.

The domestic view

The past year’s diplomatic activity has unfolded against a difficult domestic backdrop.

Violence in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces reached its highest levels in a decade in 2025. Khan, the jailed former PM, remains in prison, along with his wife. Attacks on press freedom and civil liberties have faced sustained criticism from rights groups.

The 27th Amendment has drawn sharp criticism from opposition figures and independent analysts, who argue that the concentration of authority lacks precedent in Pakistan’s history.

Analyst Khan said he was not perturbed by “the military’s increasing role in foreign policy”.

What was a more “serious question”, he said, was about Munir’s tenure as military chief. “By this point, the only person who decides how long Munir remains CDF is, effectively, Munir himself,” he said.