Washington, DC — The United States has reaffirmed its support for the fragile ceasefire between India and Pakistan, urging both nations to maintain calm and pursue direct dialogue, while describing President Donald Trump as a "peacemaker" prepared to assist in resolving long-running disputes.
"Happy to see a ceasefire between India and Pakistan," Tommy Pigott, Principal Deputy Spokesperson for the US Department of State, said on Tuesday.
"That's where our focus remains, and we want to see a ceasefire be maintained, and we want to encourage direct communication. That is our focus here," Pigott said, referring to intense standoff between the armies of India and Pakistan that seemed to head for a nuclear conflict last week before Trump announced the truce.
Speaking during a briefing that touched on Trump's foreign policy outlook, the State Department spokesperson said the president "has spoken on this" and has consistently promoted global peace efforts.
Washington's message was clear: while regional tensions remain a concern, the United States continues to back dialogue and de-escalation between New Delhi and Islamabad.
"We want to see direct communication between the parties," the official said. "And when it comes to again solving conflicts that have existed in regions around the world, the president wants to solve the conflict. He stands ready to aid in the pursuit of peace."
"He stands ready to help, and the president is a dealmaker. He is a peacemaker. He has shown that again and again," he added.
Earlier in the day, President Trump called for further diplomatic relations between India and Pakistan after he "successfully brokered a historic ceasefire to stop the escalating violence."
"I think they are actually getting along. Maybe we can even get them together a little bit, Marco [Rubio]," Trump addressed the US secretary of state while speaking at a forum on his visit to the Middle East.
"Where they [Pak-India] go out and have a nice dinner together," the US president added.
He said that he "used trade to a large extent" for the ceasefire."
"And I said, fellas, come on, let's make a deal. Let’s do some trading. Let's not trade nuclear missiles. Let's trade the things that you make so beautifully," Trump added.
The militaries of India and Pakistan had been engaged in one of their most serious confrontations in decades since last Wednesday, when India struck targets inside Pakistan it said were affiliated with rebels responsible for the killing of 26 tourists last month in India-administered Kashmir.
Pakistan denies ties to the attackers and wants an international probe, which New Delhi has rejected.
India is still probing the incident and has not publicly offered any evidence linking Islamabad with the attack.
After India's strikes in Pakistan, the two sides exchanged heavy fire along their de facto borders, followed by missile and drone strikes into each other's territories, mainly targeting military installations and airbases.
Pakistan says it shot downed five Indian aircraft, including three Rafales. India acknowledges losses but hasn't confirmed the jets' status.
Weapon experts and officials of US and France say Pakistan may have shot down two Rafale jets during last week's dogfight.
Donald Trump's Kashmir mediation remark thrusts disputed region back onto the global stage — a move welcomed by Pakistan but met with discomfort in New Delhi.
India rejects ceasefire, mediation offers
On Tuesday, the United Nations said in a statement that the US-mediated India-Pakistan ceasefire was "holding" and that the two South Asian neighbours should use this opportunity to deal with the "outstanding issues" between them.
"The ceasefire is holding," the UN secretary general's spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric, said at UN Headquarters in New York.
Trump said he not only helped mediate the ceasefire, but also offered mediation over the simmering dispute in Kashmir, a Himalayan region that both India and Pakistan claim in entirety but administer in parts.
The two nations have fought two wars over Kashmir, which has long been described as the regional nuclear flashpoint.
Trump stated that he used trade as leverage to convince both sides to accept a truce. Pakistan has supported Trump’s assertions, but New Delhi disputes them.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday rejected the ceasefire and instead called it a "pause" in fighting.
New Delhi also rejected Trump's offer for mediation over Kashmir dispute.
Any issue related to Jammu and Kashmir is a bilateral matter with Pakistan, Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal told a news conference.
"The issue of trade didn’t come up in any of these discussions," Jaiswal said, referring to the conversations held between US Vice President JD Vance and Modi, as well as between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his Indian counterpart, S Jaishankar.
Given the fragility of the situation, Pakistan's Foreign Office has called on the international community to closely monitor India's actions in the coming days after the recent ceasefire.
It said India's actions have set a dangerous precedent for aggression, "dragging the entire region to the brink of disaster."
