New York, May 9: Amid escalating tensions between India and Pakistan, the US has said it is not going to get involved in a war that’s “fundamentally none of our business”.
While the US cannot control India and Pakistan, it can encourage the two nuclear-armed neighbours to de-escalate, Vice President J D Vance said in an interview with Fox News on Thursday.
“Look, we’re concerned about any time nuclear powers collide and have a major conflict,” Vance said when asked how concerned the Trump administration is about a potential nuclear war between India and Pakistan.
Vance quoted US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio who have said that Washington wants the tensions to “de-escalate” as quickly as possible.
“We can’t control these countries though. Fundamentally, India has its gripes with Pakistan. Pakistan has responded to India. What we can do is try to encourage these folks to de-escalate a little bit. But we’re not going to get involved in the middle of war that’s fundamentally none of our business and has nothing to do with America’s ability to control it,” the vice president said.
“America can’t tell the Indians to lay down their arms. We can’t tell the Pakistanis to lay down their arms. And so we’re going to continue to pursue this thing through diplomatic channels. Our hope and our expectation is that this is not going to spiral into a broader regional war or, God forbid, a nuclear conflict, but sure, we’re worried about these things.
“But I think the job of diplomacy, but also the job of cooler heads in India and Pakistan is to make sure this doesn’t become a nuclear war. If it happened of course it would be disastrous. Right now we don’t think that’s going to happen,” he said.
Vance, Second Lady Usha Vance and their three children were on their first official visit to India when terrorists killed 26 people, mostly tourists, in Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir on April 22.
Two weeks after the attack, India launched Operation Sindoor on Wednesday, targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
On Thursday night, India neutralised Pakistan military’s attempt to hit military stations in Jammu, Pathankot, Udhampur and some other locations with missiles and drones as tensions soared between the two countries amid fears of a wider military conflict.
After the Indian military foiled the Pakistani attempts, the defence ministry said India remains “fully prepared to defend its sovereignty and ensure the safety of its people”.
Earlier on Thursday, Secretary of State Rubio spoke separately with India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, emphasising the need for immediate de-escalation.
In his call with Jaishankar, Rubio expressed US support for direct dialogue between India and Pakistan and encouraged continued efforts to improve communications. (PTI)
