NEW YORK/WASHINGTON, Aug 9: US President Donald Trump repeated the claim that he got “things settled” between India and Pakistan following the four-day military conflict between the two countries that could have turned into a “nuclear conflict”.
Speaking at the White House on Friday, Trump also claimed that five or six planes “got shot down” during the recent conflict between the South Asian neighbours.
The US president did not specify whether the jets were lost by either of the two countries or if he was referring to combined losses by both sides.
New Delhi has been maintaining that India and Pakistan halted their military actions following direct talks between their militaries without any mediation by the U.S..
Mr. Trump made the comments flanked by Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev and Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan after they inked a U.S.-brokered peace agreement during a trilateral signing ceremony.
“As President, my highest aspiration is to bring peace and stability to the world. Today’s signing follows our success with India and Pakistan.”
“They were going at it, they were going at it big, and they were two great leaders that came together just prior to what would have been a tremendous conflict, as you know, a nuclear conflict, probably,” Mr. Trump said.
Asserting that he is settling conflicts through trade, Mr. Trump said, “I got things settled with India, Pakistan. I think it was trade more than any other reason. That’s how I got involved.”
“I said, ‘You know, I don’t want to be dealing with countries that are trying to blow themselves up and maybe the world’. They are nuclear nations,” he said.
Mr. Trump referred to the conflict between India and Pakistan twice during his remarks at the event, adding them to the nearly 35 previous occasions where he has claimed that he stopped the war between the two countries through trade.
“That was a big one, getting that one settled. I think you’d agree that was a big one,” Mr. Trump said, turning to the Azerbaijani President.
“And they were going at it, you know, they were shooting airplanes out of the sky… five or six planes got shot down in their last little skirmish, and then it was going to escalate from there. That could have gotten to be very, very bad,” Mr. Trump claimed.
India has been consistently maintaining that the understanding on cessation of hostilities with Pakistan was reached following direct talks between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of the two militaries.
At the ceremony, Mr. Trump added that he is solving conflicts around the world because he wants to save a lot of lives.
“I love saving lives. That’s what it’s about. And you know, when you save lives, you really end up having a peaceful world. Usually that ends up pretty well.”
Mr. Trump also listed the conflicts between Congo and Rwanda, Thailand and Cambodia and Serbia and Kosovo that he said he helped settle.
Responding to a question on the Ukraine war, Mr. Trump said, “I think we are getting close.”
“I think that a lot of things happened recently that would make this go forward. I’m not going to mention anything having to do with India, but maybe that had an impact. But what really had an impact was that NATO stepped up in terms of their spending on buying military equipment.”
Mr. Trump also said that no matter what he does, he will not be given the Nobel Peace Prize.
“I’m not politicking for it. I have a lot of people that are…it would be a great honour, certainly, but I would never politick. I’m not doing it for that. I’m doing it because of I really, number one, I want to save lives. That’s why I’m involved so much with Ukraine and Russia.” (Agencies)
