In a marked departure from his earlier statements, U.S. President Donald Trump has, for the first time, publicly acknowledged that the leaders of India and Pakistan themselves decided to halt their recent military conflict, rather than attributing the peace to his own intervention.

Speaking to the media after meeting Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff, Asim Munir, at the White House, Trump praised both Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India and Pakistan's leadership, describing them as "very smart people" who chose not to escalate the situation into a potentially catastrophic war between two nuclear-armed nations.

Trump stated, “I want to thank him [Munir] for not going into the war, ending the war. And I want to thank, as you know, Prime Minister Modi just left a little while ago… I’m so happy that two smart people… decided not to keep going with that war. That could have been a nuclear war”.

This acknowledgment marks a significant shift from Trump’s previous assertions. Since the ceasefire on May 10, Trump had repeatedly claimed that he personally “helped settle” the tensions between India and Pakistan, often suggesting that his offer of increased trade with both nations was a decisive factor in their decision to step back from conflict.

In repeated public remarks, Trump had said, “I stopped the war. I love Pakistan. I think Modi is a fantastic man… But I stopped the war between Pakistan and India”. However, this narrative was consistently rejected by Indian officials.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a recent 35-minute phone conversation with Trump—initiated while Modi was attending the G7 summit in Canada—firmly reiterated India’s long-standing position against any third-party mediation in its disputes with Pakistan.

According to Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, Modi made it “unequivocally clear” that the cessation of hostilities was the result of direct communication between the two countries' militaries, initiated at Pakistan’s request, and not due to any U.S. mediation or linkage to trade discussions.

Misri emphasised that there was “complete political consensus” in India on rejecting third-party involvement and that at no point during the recent conflict were trade deals or mediation discussed with the U.S..

Further clarifying the sequence of events, Indian officials stated that the decision to cease military action was made through established military channels and that the U.S. was not involved in these negotiations. Modi also conveyed to Trump that India views terrorism as a direct war, not merely a proxy conflict, and that its response to aggression would be robust.

Despite Trump’s earlier claims, this latest statement represents a rare acknowledgment of the agency and decision-making of the Indian and Pakistani leadership in managing their bilateral tensions.

While Trump’s comments may reflect an attempt to recalibrate his role in the episode, the official Indian narrative remains firm: the peace was brokered directly between New Delhi and Islamabad, without external mediation, and with a clear rejection of third-party involvement in the future.

Based On A PTI Report