President Trump suggested Thursday that a resolution may be near to the conflict between India and Pakistan, which appear to be on the brink of war, saying “hopefully” it’s nearing an end.
“We have, I think, reasonably attractive news from Pakistan and India,” Trump told reporters during a press conference in Hanoi, Vietnam. “They’ve been going at it, and we’ve been involved in trying to have them stop, and we have some reasonably decent news, I think. Hopefully that’s going to be coming to an end.”
The president’s comments, made at the end of his summit with North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un, come after Pakistan said it downed two Indian fighter jets and captured one of its pilots.
The planes were shot down after skirmishes broke out in Kashmir, located in a region that both India and Pakistan claim.
Tensions between the two countries escalated last week when a Pakistani Islamist terrorist group killed more than 40 paramilitary police in a suicide bombing in Indian-administered Kashmir.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sought to ease the situation between the two countries, urging India and Pakistan “to exercise restraint, and avoid escalation at any cost.”
Trump acknowledged that the two nuclear countries have been in conflict for decades but suggested peace may be on the horizon.
“There’s a lot of dislike, unfortunately. So, we’ve been in the middle, trying to help them both out, see if we can get some organization and some peace,” he said. “And I think probably that’s going to be happening.”
[Opinion: Why escalated India-Pakistan hostility is the new normal]
