ISLAMABAD: US President Donald Trump has expressed "keen interest" in developing a "mutually beneficial" trade partnership with Pakistan based on long-term strategic convergence and shared interests,

Trump said the two “very smart” leaders of India and Pakistan “decided” not to continue a war that could have turned nuclear, a first in weeks he did not claim credit for stopping hostilities between the two neighbouring nations.

Pakistan's Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir on Wednesday became the country's first serving chief of army staff to be hosted by a US president in the White House. The luncheon-level engagement was described by Pakistan Army's media wing Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) as “cordial” and "unprecedented" for a military officer who holds no political portfolio.