By Steve Holland and Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump termed rising India-Pakistan tensions a shame, after India attacked nine sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir following an April 22 Islamist militant attack in India-administered Kashmir.
Pakistan said it was mounting a response to India’s military actions that occurred early on Wednesday Asia time and late Tuesday U.S. time.
“It’s a shame, we just heard about it,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “I guess people knew something was going to happen based on a little bit of the past. They’ve been fighting for a long time.”
The U.S. president added: “I just hope it ends very quickly.”
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on X he was “monitoring the situation between India and Pakistan closely” while adding that Washington will continue to engage the nuclear-armed Asian neighbors towards a “peaceful resolution.”
The Indian embassy in Washington said Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval spoke with Rubio and briefed him about India’s military actions.
India is an important U.S. partner for Washington at a time when it is aiming to counter China’s rising influence. Pakistan remains Washington’s ally even as its importance diminished after the 2021 U.S. withdrawal from neighboring Afghanistan.
In recent days, Washington urged the neighbors to work with each other to de-escalate tensions and arrive at a “responsible solution.”
Top U.S. leaders, including Trump, offered support to India after the April 22 attack in which 26 people were killed. American officials did not directly blame Pakistan.
Analysts said last month that Washington may leave India and Pakistan on their own in the early days of the tensions, in part because it already has a lot to deal with, given U.S. involvement in trying to reach diplomatic goals in Russia’s war in Ukraine and Israel’s war in Gaza.
Trump said in last month that India and Pakistan will figure out relations between themselves. “They’ll get it figured out one way or the other,” he said on April 25.
The U.S. State Department has said it was in touch with the Asian neighbors at multiple levels and Rubio held calls last week with both nations.
Muslim-majority Kashmir is claimed in full by both Hindu-majority India and Islamic Pakistan, with each controlling only part of it and having fought wars over it.
India blamed Pakistan for the April 22 attack. Pakistan denied the claims and called for a neutral probe.
(Reporting by Steve Holland, Kanishka Singh, David Brunnstrom and Gram Slattery; Editing by Leslie Adler, Rosalba O’Brien and Lincoln Feast.)
