India and Pakistan could be heading for catastrophic conflict, President Trump’s national security team fears.
With the nuclear-armed neighbors trading military strikes, as well as escalating allegations, the stakes could hardly be higher. After India said it bombed what it said was an Islamist terrorist training camp in Pakistan, the Pakistanis responded by shooting down two Indian jets.
“The United States is deeply concerned about rising tensions between India and Pakistan and calls on both sides to take immediate steps to de-escalate the situation,” a White House National Security Council official told the Washington Examiner. “The potential risks associated with further military action by either side are unacceptably high for both countries, their neighbors, and the international community.”
That White House warning comes hours after Trump expressed optimism about “reasonably attractive news” from the two. Pakistan plans to release an Indian pilot who was captured after his plane was downed during Tuesday’s sortie, Prime Minister Imran Khan said Thursday. But cross-border clashes have continued.
“There’s a lot of dislike, unfortunately,” Trump said during a press conference in Hanoi, Vietnam. “So we’ve been in the middle, trying to help them both out and see if we can get some organization and some peace.”
Pakistan accused Indian forces of “deliberate firing on civilians” that killed four people on Thursday, while India accused Pakistani military forces of initiating the morning’s violence.
The Trump administration is frustrated that Pakistan shelters terrorists who threaten U.S. forces in Afghanistan as well as India, including Jaish-e-Mohammed, the target of India’s recent air raid.
“It’s classic state sponsorship of terrorism,” Bill Roggio, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told the Washington Examiner. “These groups are operating with permission from the Pakistanis and they receive physical support.”
Indian government officials are demanding that Pakistan crack down on the terrorists if they want to defuse tensions, and the U.S. is backing up New Dehli.
“To avoid the kind of miscalculation Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan rightly fears, Pakistani leaders must take demonstrable action against Jaish-e-Mohammed and the terrorist infrastructure on Pakistan’s soil,” House Foreign Affairs Chairman Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., said Thursday morning.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has called for Pakistan to “tak[e] meaningful action against terrorist groups operating on its soil.” But Trump’s Democratic critics have suggested also that the lack of an ambassador to Pakistan could hamstring their ability to mediate between the two.
“With a dangerous confrontation underway between two nuclear armed states in India and Pakistan, we may soon get a chance to see whether the administration is equipped to manage a serious international crisis,” former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who served in Bill Clinton’s administration, told Engel during a Wednesday hearing.
Pompeo has been working on the issue from the sidelines of the Hanoi summit between Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. “I spent a good deal of time on the phone last night talking to leaders in both countries,” he told reporters Thursday.
“I am hopeful that we can take down the tension there, at least for the time being, so they can begin to have conversations that don’t portend risk of escalation to either of the two countries. So we’re working hard on that.”
