In Washington— Marco Rubio, the US Secretary of State, has said that the US keeps a close eye on the relationship between India and Pakistan. This statement comes as part of a larger conversation on the difficulties of keeping ceasefires around the world. Rubio said in an interview on NBC News’ Meet The Press that ceasefires “can fall apart very quickly.” He also mentioned India and Pakistan, as well as Cambodia and Thailand, as places the US keeps a careful eye on. “Every day we watch what happens between Pakistan and India,” he remarked.
Rubio was talking about the situation in Ukraine. He claimed that the US is not simply looking for a temporary truce, but a long-term peace deal. He said that for a ceasefire to happen, all parties must agree to halt firing, which “the Russians just haven’t agreed to.”
The Secretary of State’s words were similar to what President Donald Trump has said before. He has said several times that his administration helped bring about a ceasefire between India and Pakistan during a time of high tensions. In a different interview with Fox Business, Rubio stated, “I think we are very lucky and blessed and should be thankful to have a President who has made peace and the achievement of peace a priority of his administration.” We’ve seen it happen in Thailand and Cambodia. We’ve seen it happen between India and Pakistan.
India has always denied these charges of outside interference, though. Both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar have said that there was no outside help in the ceasefire accord with Pakistan after Operation Sindoor. Jaishankar has emphasized that the truce was a decision made by both sides and was not influenced by any outside pressure, such as trade deals, as Trump has said.