Trump alarmed by ‘very dangerous situation’ between Pakistan, India

Very dangerous situation between Pakistan, India: US president

WASHINGTON DC: US President Donald Trump on Friday voiced alarm at the "very dangerous situation" between Pakistan and India following the suicide attack against Indian forces in occupied Kashmir.

"It's very dangerous situation between the two countries," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

"Right now there are a lot of problems between India and Pakistan because of what happened," he said.

Trump also mentioned bilateral relations between the US and Pakistan, and said Washington has developed a “much better” relationship recently with Islamabad.

The US president, speaking at a White House event on trade negotiations with China, noted that relations had improved over the “last short period of time” and added that the United States may set up some meetings with Pakistan.

US envoys say Pakistan has an important role to play in the Afghan peace talks.

Taliban representatives are due to meet US special peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad in Qatar on February 25 in the next round of talks. The Taliban have refused to allow the participation of the Afghan government, which it regards as a US puppet.



Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry summoned the Pakistani ambassador on Wednesday over remarks that Afghan peace talks could be affected if India resorted to violence after last week’s deadly attack on Indian paramilitary police in occupied Kashmir, for which banned militant outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) reportedly claimed responsibility.



The Taliban had earlier announced that its team would meet US negotiators this week in Islamabad. The meetings did not take place for reasons that remain unclear.

 

Earlier this week, the US president expressed hope for Pakistan and India to get along with each other.

Responding to a question regarding Indo-Pak tensions, the US president had said his government is watching the situation. “I have seen it, I have watched it. I have gotten a lot of report on it. We will have a comment at the appropriate time.”

“It would be wonderful if they got along. It seems like that was a horrible situation but we are getting reports. And we will have a statement to put out,” he told reporters at a press conference at the White House.