- Thursday, May 08, 2025
The US president wants the two nuclear-armed countries to “stop” the conflict, and expressed his willingness to defuse the situation
By: India Weekly
AMID heightened tensions between India and Pakistan after the Operation Sindoor missile strikes, US president Donald Trump on Wednesday (7) said he wants the two countries to “stop” the conflict, and expressed his willingness to defuse the situation.
“Oh it’s so terrible. My position is I get along with both. I know both very well and I want to see them work it out.
“I want to see them stop and hopefully they can stop now. They have gone tit for tat, so hopefully they can stop now,” he said.
“And If I can do anything to help, I will be there,” Trump said in response to a question on the “war” between India and Pakistan.
Trump made the remarks in the Oval Office after the swearing-in ceremony of David Perdue as US Ambassador to China.
These were Trump’s second remarks on the escalating tensions between the two nuclear-armed South Asian neighbors.
In recent days, Washington has been in touch with both nations. Rubio has held calls with both, including after India’s Wednesday strikes.
India had launched Operation Sindoor targeting nine terror infrastructure sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
The targets include Jaish-e-Mohammad stronghold of Bahawalpur and Lashkar-e-Taiba’s base in Muridke.
India said it was in retaliation for the April 22 terror attack that killed 26 people in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam.
Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri told reporters in New Delhi on Wednesday (7) that the Indian military carried out a “measured, non-escalatory, proportionate, and responsible” strike to dismantle terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan to “deter and to pre-empt” any further terrorist strikes.
Misri said it was deemed essential that the perpetrators and planners of the April 22 attack be brought to justice as there was “no demonstrable” step from Islamabad to take action against the terror infrastructure on its territory or on territory under its control.
Just hours after the Indian strikes, Trump had said that India and Pakistan have been fighting for long and people knew “something was going to happen” and hoped “it ends quickly”.
Pakistan Army spokesman Lt Gen Ahmad Sharif Chaudhry said 31 people were killed and 57 others injured in the missile strikes and firing on the Line of Control.
A top American military commander has said that the US is “watching the situation very closely” after Indian military strikes.
“It’s right now too early to opine on any of that. We’re watching the situation very closely. We’re nested with our higher headquarters and USINDOPACOM as the information about these strikes becomes more clear,” US Army Pacific Commanding General, General Ronald Clark said during a digital press briefing Wednesday (7).
The United States Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM) is one of six geographic Unified Combatant Commands of the United States Armed Forces, headquartered in Hawaii.
Clark was responding to a question about the US view of the developing situation after the strikes by India.
Analysts say US involvement to achieve diplomatic goals in Russia’s war in Ukraine and Israel’s war in Gaza may make Washington leave India and Pakistan on their own in the early days of the tensions. (Agencies)
