Trump prevented war between India, Pakistan during presidency: US Secretary of State Rubio

New York/Washington: US Secretary Of State Marco Rubio said that under President Donald Trump’s leadership, America has “prevented and ended” a war between India and Pakistan.

“Just going through a list here Mr President…and all these achievements that have happened domestically... under your leadership, we've prevented and ended a war between India and Pakistan,” Rubio said, sitting next to Trump, during remarks at a Cabinet meeting at the White House Tuesday.

Rubio also listed the peace deal between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, “a 12-day war that ended with an American operation that we're the only country in the world that could have done, hopefully pretty soon a peace deal between Azerbaijan and Armenia".

"The entire Middle East and the infrastructure of it has the potential now to change because of Syria and Lebanon. And it hasn't even been 6 months. It’s a great testament to your leadership” and the team, he said.

A day earlier, Trump had again repeated the claim that he stopped the war, that could have gone nuclear, between India and Pakistan by telling the two neighbours that Washington will not do trade with them if they continued the fighting.

“We did a job with India and Pakistan, Serbia, Kosovo, Rwanda and the Congo, and this was all over the last three weeks or so... and others that were ready to fight,” Trump had said while speaking to reporters ahead of a bilateral dinner with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the White House on Monday.

“And we stopped a lot of fights. I think the very big one, frankly, a very, very big one was India and Pakistan. And we stopped that over trade. We're dealing with India. We're dealing with Pakistan.

"We said we're not going to be dealing with you at all if you're going to fight. And they were maybe at a nuclear stage. They're both nuclear powers. And I think stopping that was very important,” Trump had said.

Meanwhile, State Department Spokesperson Tammy Bruce, while replying to a question on India denying that Trump played any role in the conflict with Pakistan, said “I think... so many comments speak for themselves. That’s one of the good aspects of our modern world... people can see what’s really occurring. You’re not reliant on a comment to know what has really happened.

“The world is playing out in front of us in real time on big screens and small screens. Everyone will have an opinion. That’s an opinion. Some opinions are wrong. Mine rarely are but other people’s opinions can be wrong,” she said amid laughter.

“But that’s what we get to do is analyse and judgment, and the fact is that we understand in front of us every day the clarity of what’s transpiring in our world.

“Donald Trump is here to help make that easier and to help use this to make things clearer. Secretary Marco Rubio is in the same position, the Vice President of the United States also involved in the negotiations with Pakistan and India, JD Vance. Same dynamic, fresh views, new ideas, understanding the world as it sits, and making sure that it’s better when they leave. And they will be recognized for that,” Bruce said.

Tensions between India and Pakistan escalated after the Pahalgam terror attack, with India carrying out precision strikes on terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir on May 7.

The on-ground hostilities from the Indian and Pakistan sides that lasted for four days ended with an understanding of stopping the military actions following talks between the directors general of military operations of both sides on May 10.

During a phone call with President Trump last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi set the record straight that India had paused strikes on Pakistan during Operation Sindoor following a request from Islamabad and not due to mediation or offer of a trade deal by the US.