Trump repeats 'offered trade to India, Pak' claim, says US helped settle tensions

Doha

United States President Donald Trump on Thursday reiterated his claim that he helped broker a ceasefire between India and Pakistan, after he urged both the nuclear-armed neighbours to focus on trade instead of war.

"I don't want to say I did, but I surely helped settle the problem between India and Pakistan last week, which was becoming more and more hostile. All of a sudden, you saw missiles of different types. We got it settled, and I hope when I walk out of here two days late, I don't find out it is not settled," Trump said while addressing US troops at a base in Qatar during his Gulf tour.

"We talked to them about trade. I said let's do trade instead of war. Both India and Pakistan were very happy with that. They have been fighting for about a thousand years. I said I could settle this up. I can settle anything," the President added.

While Trump positioned himself as a peacemaker, his remarks came with historical inaccuracies. India and Pakistan have existed as separate nations only since 1947, when the subcontinent was partitioned following the end of British colonial rule — far from the "thousand years" of conflict the US President referenced.

Trump was quick enough to take the credit and described himself as a peacemaker during an address in Saudi Arabia. He had also suggested that India and Pakistan should "have a nice dinner together" to help ease tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours.

"My administration helped broker a full and immediate ceasefire, I think a permanent one, between India and Pakistan, ending a dangerous conflict of two nations with lots of nuclear weapons," the US President had said.