Washington: US President Donald Trump Monday offered to help resolve the Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan in initial remarks with visiting Prime Minister Imran Khan.
“If I can help, I would love to be a mediator,” Trump said, following up on Khan’s request during a joint appearance at the White House that he would like the United States to help resolve the Kashmir dispute.
But India was quick to reject the offer, with the external affairs ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeting that India’s position has been that all outstanding issues with Pakistan are discussed only bilaterally. He also denied that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made any request to Trump to mediate on Kashmir.
We have seen @POTUS's remarks to the press that he is ready to mediate, if requested by India & Pakistan, on Kashmir issue. No such request has been made by PM @narendramodi to US President. It has been India's consistent position…1/2
— Anurag Srivastava (@MEAIndia) July 22, 2019
The Pakistani leader had said in response to a question that he would be asking President Trump “to bring peace” to the sub-continent as it affects more than a billion people, and only the most “powerful state headed by President Trump” can bring the two countries together because “we have done our best” to start the dialogue and resolve “our differences and “unfortunately we haven’t made headway as yet”.
President Trump said he was open to playing a role in the discussions.
“I was with PM Modi two weeks ago and we talked about the subject. And he actually said, ‘would you like to be a mediator, or arbitrator? I said ‘where?’, and he said ‘Kashmir, because this has been going on for many many years’,” the President said.
#WATCH Washington DC: Pakistan PM Imran Khan and US President Donald Trump reply to journalists when asked on Kashmir. pic.twitter.com/UM51rbsIYF
— ANI (@ANI) July 22, 2019
India has long maintained that Kashmir is a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan, and no dialogue is possible as long as Islamabad continues to support cross-border terrorism.
Pakistan has routinely brought up Kashmir and India in meetings with the United States in the past, seeking intervention and mediation. Khan’s pitch, to that extent, was not new. But previous presidents have resisted attempts to involve themselves, given India’s opposition to third-party mediation.
Trump’s comments sparked off tweets from Opposition leaders who asked whether India had changed its position on third-party intervention in Kashmir.
Also read: In US, Imran Khan & Bajwa want to replace suspicion with personal chemistry. It’s not easy
Afghanistan in focus
Trump and Khan were to hold delegation-level meetings after the opening remarks, during which Afghanistan and counter-terrorism would be the chief topics of discussion.
The US President also said that Pakistan was helping the United States “a lot” in Afghanistan, which is the key focus area of the meeting.
“Pakistan’s going to help us out to extricate ourselves,” Trump said. “We’re like policemen. We’re not fighting a war. If we wanted to fight a war in Afghanistan and win it, I could win that war in a week. I just don’t want to kill 10 million people. … I have plans on Afghanistan where if I wanted to win that war, Afghanistan would be wiped off the face of the earth.”
Trump also spoke of the suspension of security aid for Pakistan, which he ordered in 2018 over Islamabad’s patchy counter-terrorism measures, and said relations were better between the two countries because of that.
“We paid $1.3 billion to Pakistan in aid for many years,” Trump said. “The problem was Pakistan wasn’t doing anything for us… I ended that a year-and-a-half ago… To be honest, I think we have a better relationship with Pakistan right now than when we were paying that money. That money can come back.”
In a fact sheet on the visit, the White House said, “Pakistan has taken some steps against terrorist groups operating within Pakistan. It is vital that Pakistan take action to shut down all groups once and for all.”
Khan said in response to a question from reporters that there was no military solution to Afghanistan, and he hoped the Taliban would talk to the Afghanistan government to bring peace to the country. Trump said he agreed with the prime minister.
Also read: Imran Khan’s US visit is for home audience. Bajwa’s Army will do the real talking
By special arrangement with 
A fine example of Trump’s diplomatic lechery.
Drumpf is a very stupid fellow who doesn’t know what he is talking most of the time. Tomorrow he will be forced to issue a clarification and the US state department would issue a denial.
Paks are always about short term tactics and optics. In the long run always losers with a failed Jihadi terrorist state begging for survival.
India has consistently taken a principled stand, congruent with the Simla Agreement, 1972, that Kashmir is an issue that is to be resolved bilaterally, through a peaceful dialogue. The potential downside of our repeatedly naming and shaming Pakistan in each global forum is that Kashmir gets internationalised. It gives Pakistan an opportunity to claim that this is the core dispute that is keeping the two countries in a perpetual state of near conflict and since India has declined to have a conversation, Why doesn’t the most powerful nation in the world use its good offices …