{"id":34846,"date":"2026-07-19T04:35:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T04:35:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/?p=34846"},"modified":"2026-07-19T04:35:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T04:35:20","slug":"defense-and-minerals-inside-pakistans-lobbying-push-in-washington","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/?p=34846","title":{"rendered":"Defense and minerals: inside Pakistan\u2019s lobbying push in Washington"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/n_670_395\/public\/2026\/07\/17\/4732119-561667512.jpg?itok=2DJ0dW_v\" alt=\"Defense and minerals: inside Pakistan\u2019s lobbying push in Washington\" title=\"This handout photograph released by Pakistan's Prime Minister Office on September 26, 2025, shows Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif (L), Army Chief and Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir (R) posing with US President Donald Trump (C) at the White House in Washington, DC. (AFP\/ file)\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This handout photograph released by Pakistan&#8217;s Prime Minister Office on September 26, 2025, shows Pakistan&#8217;s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif (L), Army Chief and Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir (R) posing with US President Donald Trump (C) at the White House in Washington, DC. (AFP\/ file)Next<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The two-year, $1.2-million lobbying agreement, filed in a public official database, began in May<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It aims to convert the goodwill Pakistan has earned with the Trump administration into tangible benefits<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As Pakistan stepped into the global center-stage through Iran war mediation, it hired a US lobbying firm to push Washington for boosted security cooperation and minerals investment, the contract shows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The two-year, $1.2-million lobbying agreement, filed in a public official database, began in May, spanning a period officials and experts say is critical to converting the goodwill Pakistan has earned with Donald Trump\u2019s administration into tangible bilateral benefits.<br><br>But Islamabad could face an uphill battle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHow long the dramatic improvement in relations will last is uncertain, given the history of ups and downs\u201d in ties, said Maleeha Lodhi, Pakistan\u2019s former ambassador to Washington.<br><br>\u201cIt is also an open question whether it will outlast Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The contract directs Capitol Hill-headquartered Ervin Graves Strategy Group to engage with the US Congress and government, and facilitate meetings, including with Pentagon and National Security Council officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It expands on a short-term agreement struck between Pakistan\u2019s Washington embassy and the firm in October, though the new arrangement doubles the monthly payment to $50,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pakistan\u2019s foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment on the contract.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A US State Department spokesperson said the two countries \u201ccontinue to identify areas of cooperation that benefit our nations related to trade and some security priorities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Governments regularly hire lobbyists to boost their profile among Washington power players.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pakistan\u2019s latest agreement, disclosed under the US Foreign Agents Registration Act, provides direct insight into Islamabad\u2019s strategic priorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It outlines efforts to restore defense cooperation mechanisms that existed during the Afghanistan war and attract investment in the minerals sector, currently dominated by China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe contract highlights aspects of the relationship that align with Trump administration priorities, including critical minerals and counterterrorism,\u201d said Elizabeth Threlkeld, a former US diplomat in Pakistan and head of the Stimson Center\u2019s South Asia Program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>SECURITY LENS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The text also demonstrates \u201can interest in engaging Congress to broaden constituencies of support for the partnership,\u201d said Threlkeld.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It includes a direction to emphasize \u201cthreats emanating from Afghanistan\u201d and \u201cpromote continued US support for Pakistan\u2019s counterterrorism efforts\u201d at a time when Islamabad is carrying out strikes on its neighbor in response to militant violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Afghanistan\u2019s Taliban government denies the country\u2019s involvement in militancy in Pakistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Powerful Pakistani army chief Asim Munir\u2019s rapport with Trump has elevated Islamabad\u2019s influence in a bilateral relationship long focused through a security lens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The US president refers to Munir as his \u201cfavorite field marshal,\u201d following their acquaintance in the aftermath of the conflict with India that Trump helped mediate last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A source familiar with the matter said Pakistan\u2019s help in US-Iran negotiations to broker their June interim agreement provided a window of opportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe want to go beyond personal relationships so that the relationship becomes more institutionally based and can outlast changes in government,\u201d the source said on condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Overall, Islamabad\u2019s ties with Washington have drifted since the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan in 2021 ended a 20-year war that defined much of the relationship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pakistan instructed Ervin Graves to work on efforts \u201cfor the resumption of&#8230; appropriate high-level bilateral defense and security dialogue mechanisms.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to the contract, this could be in the form of a revived Defense Consultative Group (DCG), the forum that underpinned US-Pakistan cooperation during the Afghanistan war era.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The DCG \u201cgradually became less active as security assistance to Pakistan dwindled,\u201d said Shuja Nawaz, Atlantic Council fellow and author of \u201cThe Battle for Pakistan: The Bitter US Friendship and a Tough Neighbourhood.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>COOPERATION \u2018FLUCTUATED\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The partnership at its height included billions in US financing flowing to the South Asian nation, which Washington relied on for military supply routes and counterterrorism cooperation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It suffered a blow in 2011 when US forces raided a compound in Pakistan and found Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the 9\/11 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Today, \u201cthere is no direct US aid worth mentioning,\u201d Nawaz said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A Pakistani security source told AFP that defense ties continued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhile the scope and intensity of cooperation have fluctuated&#8230; security collaboration has rarely ceased,\u201d the source said, adding that intelligence cooperation resulted in last year\u2019s apprehension of a Daesh group operative allegedly involved in a deadly 2021 attack at the Kabul airport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The lobbying contract dedicates a section to the minerals sector \u2014 a global strategic priority for Trump\u2019s administration \u2014 instructing the firm to \u201csupport efforts to identify opportunities for cooperation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ervin Graves should \u201cprovide recommendations\u201d on Pakistan\u2019s policy and investment engagement strategies, and identify possible investors, it says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That could build on American interest in mining operations in vast southwestern Balochistan province, home to one of the world\u2019s largest untapped reserves of copper \u2014 an in-demand resource for AI data center construction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In December, Washington pledged $1.25 billion for Balochistan\u2019s Reko Diq copper and gold mine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But Pakistan\u2019s least-developed province grapples with a growing separatist insurgency, which has also targeted mining investments by China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nawaz said the US-Pakistan relationship would need such headwinds addressed to move past reliance on the possibly fleeting bonhomie of its leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cPakistan needs to get its domestic act together to make itself economically strong and attractive for foreign investments,\u201d he said. \u201cOnce that happens, US interest will become stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Reference Link:- <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/2651238\/pakistan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/2651238\/pakistan<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This handout photograph released by Pakistan&#8217;s Prime Minister Office on September 26, 2025, shows Pakistan&#8217;s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif (L), Army Chief and Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir (R) posing with US President Donald Trump (C) at the White House in Washington, DC. (AFP\/ file)Next As Pakistan stepped into the global center-stage through Iran war [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28240,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"aside","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[512,24120,23759,26603,483,32030,23972,24198],"class_list":["post-34846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-aside","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sample-category","tag-america-2","tag-critical-minerals-2","tag-defense-2","tag-mineral-economy-2","tag-pakistan-2","tag-pakistani-leadership","tag-president-trump-3","tag-rare-earth-minerals-2","post_format-post-format-aside"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34846"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34848,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34846\/revisions\/34848"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/28240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}