Washington: The United States has offered to assist India and Pakistan in initiating “constructive talks” amid rising hostilities between the nuclear-armed neighbors. At the same time, the Group of Seven (G7) nations has also urged both countries to engage in direct dialogue to avoid further escalation.
Concerns have grown globally as the decades-old India-Pakistan rivalry has once again flared up. Indian air strikes and missile launches targeting Pakistan on Wednesday were followed by a series of daily military confrontations, with both sides carrying out strikes against each other’s military sites over the weekend. The clashes have reportedly resulted in dozens of fatalities.
Since the tensions intensified in late April, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has held consistent discussions with Indian and Pakistani officials, calling for de-escalation. On Friday night and into Saturday morning, the U.S. State Department issued three statements detailing Rubio’s calls with Pakistan Army Chief General Asim Munir and the foreign ministers of both India and Pakistan.
According to the statements, Rubio “urged them to re-establish direct communication to avoid miscalculation” and offered U.S. support “in starting constructive talks” to prevent future conflict.
Michael Kugelman, a South Asia expert based in Washington and contributing writer for Foreign Policy, described Rubio’s outreach to the Pakistani military leadership as a critical step:
“If you want to talk to the Pakistanis about de-escalation, you need to talk to General Munir.”
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U.S. President Donald Trump earlier in the week labeled the rising tensions “a shame”, while Vice President JD Vance remarked that any war between India and Pakistan would be “none of our business”.
India is increasingly viewed as a strategic partner by the West to help counterbalance China’s growing influence in Asia. Pakistan, though still a U.S. ally, has seen its strategic importance to Washington wane, particularly since the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
G7 Calls for Dialogue
The G7 foreign ministers—representing Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union—issued a joint statement condemning an April 22 Islamist militant attack in India-administered Kashmir that left 26 people dead. India has held Pakistan responsible for the attack, a claim Pakistan has denied while calling for an independent investigation.
“We call for immediate de-escalation and encourage both countries to engage in direct dialogue towards a peaceful outcome,” the G7 statement read.
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The region of Kashmir remains a deeply contentious issue. Claimed in full by both India and Pakistan but governed in parts by each, Kashmir has been at the center of wars, insurgencies, and repeated diplomatic stand-offs for decades.
