Michael Rubin, a former Pentagon official and senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, has sharply criticized US President Donald Trump’s claims regarding the cessation of hostilities between India and Pakistan, urging Indians not to take Trump’s statements literally.

In an interview, Rubin remarked on Trump’s penchant for taking credit for major achievements, humorously suggesting that if asked, Trump might claim to have “invented the Internet” or “cured cancer.” Rubin advised, “Indians should be more like Americans in this regard and not take Donald Trump literally”.

Rubin’s comments came after Trump publicly asserted that his administration played a pivotal role in brokering an immediate and, as he described, potentially permanent cessation of hostilities between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. Trump stated, “We stopped a nuclear conflict. I think it could have been a bad nuclear war.

Millions of people could have been killed. I also want to thank VP JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio for their work. On Saturday, my administration helped broker an immediate cessation of hostilities, I think a permanent one between India and Pakistan, the countries having a lot of nuclear weapons”.

Rubin, while acknowledging the importance of US diplomatic engagement in South Asia, clarified that the United States typically plays a behind-the-scenes role during India-Pakistan crises. He explained that Washington’s efforts are aimed at providing diplomatic “off-ramps” to prevent escalation, especially given the risk of nuclear exchange.

Rubin said, “Whenever Pakistan and India come into conflict, the United States tries to mediate behind the scenes, and this is reasonable because the United States is trying diplomatically to provide an off-ramp to prevent unrestricted warfare and also, in a worst case scenario, prevent an escalation to any sort of nuclear exchange. So, the fact that the United States would be in touch with both New Delhi and Islamabad is obvious, and the fact that both New Delhi and Islamabad would use Washington to pass messages is also obvious”.

Trump, in his remarks, also claimed to have leveraged trade as a tool for peace, stating, “I said, ‘Come on, we’re going to do a lot of trade with you guys. Let’s stop it, let’s stop it. If you stop it, we’re doing trade. If you don’t stop it, we’re not going to do any trade’”. However, Indian officials have clarified that while there were conversations between Indian and US leaders during the escalation, trade discussions were not part of these talks.

The backdrop to these statements was India’s launch of Operation Sindoor, a major military response to the Pahalgam terror attack in April, which killed 26 people. India’s precision strikes on May 7 targeted terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK), reportedly killing over 100 terrorists and causing significant damage to Pakistani military assets. The Indian response also included countering subsequent Pakistani aggression, including drone and missile attacks on Indian territory.

Following intense military exchanges, the Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) of the Indian Army reported that a proposal for cessation of hostilities was made by his Pakistani counterpart, leading to a temporary halt in cross-border firing and air intrusions. However, the ceasefire was quickly violated by Pakistan, prompting warnings of further punitive action from India.

Rubin’s rebuke of Trump’s claims underscores the distinction between public political rhetoric and the complex realities of international diplomacy and military engagement. While the US may facilitate communication and urge restraint, Rubin emphasized that credit for de-escalation cannot be attributed to any one leader’s intervention, particularly not in the sweeping terms used by Trump.

ANI