U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday expressed hope that escalating tensions between India and Pakistan would subside quickly, following Indian airstrikes on Pakistani territory.
“They’ve been fighting for many decades,” Trump remarked during an event at the White House. “I just hope it ends very quickly.”
Regarding the current flare-up, the president noted, “People knew something was going to happen based on a little bit of the past.”
India launched the strikes across the border, stating it was targeting militant hideouts allegedly responsible for a deadly attack in April that claimed at least 26 civilian lives in the disputed Kashmir region. In response, Pakistan’s military reported eight fatalities and 33 injuries resulting from the missile strikes.
Indian media also reported that three civilians were killed in areas under India’s control due to retaliatory shelling by Pakistani forces.
Trump’s administration Secretary of State speaks
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio addressed the situation via social media, stating, “I echo (Trump’s) comments earlier today that this hopefully ends quickly and will continue to engage both Indian and Pakistani leadership towards a peaceful resolution.”
India and Pakistan, both nuclear powers, have fought three full-scale wars since their partition in 1947, most of them centred around the disputed region of Kashmir, which remains divided between them and is also claimed by China.
