By Anjali Sharma
WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump on Wednesday praised on Pakistan’s leadership called the country’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif “a great guy” and its Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir a “great fighter.”
Trump sought to claim credit for stopping the military conflict between India and Pakistan earlier this year.
He reiterated his claims of intervening in the fight between the two nuclear-armed nations, and added that war planes were shot down during the conflict in May.
Trump claimed that he personally intervened to stop the two nuclear-armed neighbors from going to war, stated he called Prime Minister Narendra Modi and told him the US would not pursue a trade deal with India if hostilities continued.
“I called Prime Minister Modi and said, we can’t make a trade deal with you. No, no, we must make a trade deal. I said, no, we can’t. You’re starting a war with Pakistan. We’re not going to do it. And then I called Pakistan and said, we’re not going to do trade with you because you’re fighting with India. They said, no, no, you should let us fight. They both said that,” Trump said.
Trump said both countries eventually “understood” and stopped the fighting within two days.
“After literally two days, they called up and they said, we understand, and they stopped fighting. How is that? Isn’t that amazing? Now, you think Biden would have done that? I don’t think so…,” the US President said.
US signed a trade deal with Pakistan, but negotiations with India were stopped after New Delhi didn’t agree on certain terms of the deal.
India also refused to acknowledge Trump’s role in the ceasefire, asserted that the cessation of the fighting was directly negotiated by the armies of the two countries.
Trump imposed 50 per cent tariff on Indian imports to the US, both countries resumed trade talks after a social media exchange between Trump and Modi.
Trump has praised Modi, publicly expressed his love for the Indian leader and praised his looks.
“Prime Minister Modi is the nicest-looking guy. He’s a killer. He’s tough as hell…,” Trump remarked.
Trump heaped praise on Pakistan’s leadership, calling the country’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif “a great guy” and its Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir a “great fighter.”
He also remarked that he had read about “seven planes being shot down” apparently echoing Pakistan’s claim of shooting down Indian fighter jets during the May conflict but stopped short of clarifying whether the aircraft were Indian or Pakistani.
Trump targeted his predecessor Joe Biden, claimed the former US President would not have been able to prevent such a conflict.
