Nearly a month after brokering a ceasefire between India and Pakistan, President Donald Trump has credited his diplomatic effort with averting a nuclear conflict between the two South Asian neighbors.
The president once again underscored how he used trade as leverage to make the two countries stop the deadly clashes that started on May 7, after Indian warplanes fired missiles into Pakistan.
The two countries have observed the ceasefire they agreed on May 10 after intense U.S. diplomacy engaging the leaders of the two countries.
Speaking to journalists aboard Air Force One Trump recalled that a war between India and Pakistan could have gone nuclear if Washington had not persuaded them.
“You know, I did something that people don’t talk about, and I don’t talk about very much, but we solved a big problem, a nuclear problem potentially with India and with Pakistan. I spoke to Pakistan, I spoke to India, they have really great leaders, but they were going at it, and they could have gone at it nuclear.”
Trump noted that Pakistan and India are “both strong nuclear countries.”
“I talked about trade and said, ‘We’re not doing trade if you guys are going to be throwing bombs at each other.”
“They both stopped, and I stopped that war immediately. “
He praised the leaders of both nations for agreeing to put an end to their conflict, that involved one of the largest dogfights in modern history.
India flew 80 jets to target what it described as terrorist sites linked to an April 22 attack in Pahlagam, in the disputed Kashmir region under Indian control.
“That was going much further, and hopefully, it would not go to nuclear, but it might have gone to nuclear. In fact, it might have gone to nuclear in the next round, but we stopped it, and I’d like to commend the leader of both countries, Pakistan and India.”
Pakistan countered the attack, shooting down five Indian fighter planes including high-tech French Rafale planes.
Islamabad rejected the Indian accusation of a Pakistani link to the attack and demanded evidence from New Delhi for the assertion while it also offered to be part of an international investigation into the incident that killed 26 tourists.
New Delhi has been averse to foreign intervention on the Kashmir question, and Trump’s remarks since May 10 have sparked a storm of criticism against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi since he is being seen as caving into Washington’s pressure.
