- US Secretary Marco Rubio claimed Trump stopped India-Pakistan war through direct US involvement
- Trump asserted US trade incentives ended India-Pakistan conflict, a claim India denies
- India says ceasefire resulted from military talks and objectives being met, not US pressure
The United States got "directly involved" when India and Pakistan were involved in a military conflict earlier this year, claimed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. He reiterated America's earlier claim that US President Donald Trump stopped the war between the nuclear-armed South Asian nations.
Speaking during an interview to EWTN's 'The World Over' on Thursday, Rubio said that Trump is committed to peace and being the "president of peace".
"And so, we saw when India and Pakistan went to war, we got involved directly, and the president was able to deliver on that peace," Rubio said.
The US leader listed other conflicts that President Trump has supposedly helped resolve and said Americans were proud of those initiatives.
"Cambodia and Thailand more recently; Azerbaijan and Armenia, hopefully...DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo)-Rwanda - a 30-year war, 7 million people killed - we were able to bring them here to sign it," Rubio said.
He added the US is "looking for more - obviously, the big one being in Ukraine and Russia".
India Rejects Trump's Claims
Since May 10, Trump has repeatedly claimed that he "helped settle" the tensions between India and Pakistan by telling the two neighbours that America will do a "lot of trade" with them if they stop the conflict.
India has denied the claims, maintaining that the ceasefire was achieved through talks between the Indian and Pakistani militaries and not US mediation
Last month, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh told the Lok Sabha, the lower house of parliament, that it was "completely incorrect and baseless to say that the military action was stopped because of pressure".
"India halted its operation because all the political and military objectives studied before and during the conflict had been fully achieved," he said.
He also claimed the decision was taken after a request from Pakistan's Director General of Military Operations (DGMO), who "pleaded for relief".
Is Trump Angry With India?
A South Asia analyst has explained that Trump singled out India for its trade with Russia by imposing hefty penalties because New Delhi refused to let him take credit for the ceasefire. Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the US-based Wilson Center, spoke to news agency ANI after Trump announced an additional 25 per cent tariffs on Indian exports, taking the total tariff burden to 50 per cent.
China has not stood out there and refused to let President Trump take credit for his role in the ceasefire. China has not had its leader have a long conversation with Trump on the phone and essentially dictate to him what's right and what's wrong. These are things that happened with India," he said.
New Delhi has maintained that it buys Russian oil to ensure energy security for its people, and has called the US action "unfair, unjustified, and unreasonable". The Ministry of External Affairs also said that it was "extremely unfortunate" that the US imposed additional tariffs on India for actions that several other countries are taking, including China.
