Former US President Donald Trump on Thursday, May 15, claimed that tensions between India and Pakistan have been “settled,” attributing the de-escalation to diplomatic efforts by his administration.
Addressing American troops at a military base in Qatar during a tour of the Gulf, Trump said the situation between the two nuclear-armed neighbours had reached a critical and dangerous stage before the United States stepped in.
“I don’t want to say I did, but I sure as hell helped settle the problem between Pakistan and India last week, which was getting more and more hostile, and all of a sudden, you’ll start seeing missiles of a different type, and we got it settled. I hope I don’t walk out of here and two days later find out that it’s not settled, but I think it is settled, and we talked to them about trade. Let’s do trade instead of, and Pakistan was very happy with that, and India was very happy with that, and I think they’re on the way,” Trump said.
He added, “They have been fighting for about a 1000 years in all fairness. So I said, you know. I could settle that up. I could settle; let me settle it up, and let’s get them all together. How long have you been fighting for about 1000 years? Oh, that’s a lot. I’m not sure about that. I’m not sure about settling. That’s a tough one. They’ve been fighting for a long time… It was really going to be escalating out of control.”
India has firmly rejected claims of U.S. involvement in brokering the ceasefire with Pakistan. In a statement, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) clarified that the agreement was the result of direct communication between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of both countries.
According to the MEA, the peace initiative was prompted by Pakistan, which reached out to India following a series of retaliatory strikes targeting key military and airbase installations during Operation Sindoor. The Ministry emphasized that the ceasefire was a bilateral development, with no third-party mediation involved.
