• PM Shehbaz arrives in Washington at this time to attend Trump-led moot
• Summit to give attention to Gaza ceasefire, $5bn US pledge and board’s institutional design
• Muslim states cautious of fight function, search viable pathway to Palestinian statehood
WASHINGTON: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif arrives right here on Wednesday (at this time) to attend the worldwide summit of the Board of Peace (BoP) hosted by US President Donald Trump, stepping right into a discussion board that seeks to transcend Gaza in restoring international peace and stability.
The summit’s instant focus is anticipated to be threefold: consolidating a ceasefire in Gaza, mobilizing monetary pledges for the BoP — with Washington saying an preliminary dedication of $5 billion — and finalizing the contours of a proposed international discussion board that Trump hopes can obtain what the United Nations couldn’t.
Members are additionally prone to focus on the proposed Worldwide Stabilization Power (ISF), tasked with securing reconstruction zones and supporting a post-conflict governance association in Gaza.
For Pakistan, the query of contributing troops to the ISF has assumed specific significance after it reportedly figured in discussions between Chief of Military Workers Area Marshal Asim Munir and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the sidelines of the Munich Safety Convention.
Diplomatic sources say a number of Muslim international locations are open to taking part in a stabilization mechanism however are reluctant to simply accept any fight function that would place their forces in direct confrontation with Hamas. They’re additionally looking for a transparent political horizon for Palestinian statehood and opposing Israeli strikes in direction of annexation within the West Financial institution.
The institutional design of the BoP — a compact, leader-driven physique with an operational arm within the type of the ISF and a devoted financing pool — displays Washington’s choice for coalition-based mechanisms working outdoors the slower multilateral framework of the United Nations. This has raised questions amongst diplomats and students about each effectiveness and legality.
Maleeha Lodhi, Pakistan’s former ambassador to the USA, Britain and the United Nations, was unequivocal in her evaluation. “The jury is out on whether or not the Board of Peace can ship peace. The absence of any Palestinian illustration on the Board raises questions on its legitimacy,” she mentioned. “If the principle get together to the difficulty is excluded, how is that this going to advance the peace course of or carve out a post-conflict future for the individuals of Gaza.”
Dr Lodhi warned that externally imposed governance preparations danger reproducing older energy hierarchies. “Externally managed governance preparations make this a colonial-style challenge,” she noticed, including that “a minimum of half of the international locations invited to be members didn’t be a part of the physique as they’d reservations about its function, legality and effectiveness in addition to Trump’s pretension of turning this right into a parallel physique to the UN Safety Council”.
She additionally questioned Islamabad’s early resolution to signal on. “Pakistan mustn’t have joined the Board in such haste and may have waited to see what precisely it’ll do, particularly given the widespread view that it will probably find yourself changing into an instrument for persevering with Israeli occupation.”
For PM Shehbaz, the go to is just not solely about Pakistan’s potential function in a brand new stabilization structure but additionally about navigating a posh internet of home and exterior pressures, in line with Akbar Ahmed, Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Research at American College.
“PM Shehbaz Sharif faces as sticky a wicket as will be imagined when he arrives in Washington for his conferences with President Trump,” Prof Ahmed mentioned. “He’s bringing with him two units of dilemmas: an inner one and an exterior one.”
On the home entrance, he famous, the prime minister should handle a tough civil-military steadiness amid rising safety challenges. He added that Shehbaz Sharif additionally faces a politically delicate resolution relating to the continued incarceration and well being of former PM Imran Khan.
Externally, the problem is much more advanced. “On the one hand, he should proceed his newly shaped amicable relationship with President Trump, which provides him entry to American army and financial buildings, and on the opposite, the constant and immeasurable help that China has supplied,” Prof Ahmed mentioned, pointing to tensions on each the japanese and western borders as components that make this steadiness unavoidable.
“With each the western border with Afghanistan and the japanese border with India heating up, Shehbaz Sharif can not ignore this steadiness between America and China. His efficiency can be watched rigorously and his phrases weighed. He’ll want all his legendary abilities of survival.”
In that sense, the Washington go to is as a lot about testing the contours of Pakistan’s evolving relationship with the USA as it’s about Gaza. For the Trump administration, the summit is anticipated to safe troop commitments for the ISF, monetary participation in reconstruction and political endorsement for a US-led stabilization mannequin.
For Muslim and Arab international locations, participation is tied to a everlasting ceasefire, a reputable pathway to Palestinian statehood and a non-combat mandate for any multinational power.
How PM Shehbaz positions Pakistan between these competing expectations — whereas coordinating with like-minded states and sustaining strategic equilibrium between Washington and Beijing — will decide each the instant diplomatic final result of the summit and the longer trajectory of Pakistan’s function within the rising post-conflict framework for Gaza.
Revealed in Daybreak, February 18th, 2026
