U.S. and India must de-escalate if they’re worried about a nuclear conflict: comment on the Indian-Pakistan conflict

MUMBAI India — Vice President Vance said that the current escalation between India and Pakistan was “fundamentally none of our business,” as they traded blows overnight Thursday and early Friday evening using drones and projectiles, reaching places that have not been targeted in decades on either side.

The question regarding whether the Trump administration is worried about a nuclear conflict was posed to him by Fox News. “We want this thing to de-escalate as quickly as possible,” and added: “We can’t control these countries though.”

“What we can do is try to encourage these folks to de-escalate a little bit, but we’re not going to get involved in the middle of a war that’s fundamentally none of our business and has nothing to do with America’s ability to control it.”

State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said Rubio continued to urge both parties to “find ways to deescalate and offered U.S. assistance in starting constructive talks” in order to avoid future conflicts.

Donthi, of the Crisis Group, said Vance’s comments suggested that Washington may be sympathetic to India’s grievances, which “seems to have come to the conclusion that letting this play out a bit more is actually contributing to that effort to confront the threat of terror.”

Vance’s comments signaled a more hands-off foreign policy, said Arifa Noor, a columnist for the liberal newspaper Dawn. Washington worked to dial down tensions in the past.

The problem, she said, is “I do not think that there is another power that can step into this vacuum” even as the two countries had long relied on the U.S. for “stepping in and talking the two countries off the ledge.” She described them as a pair of nuclear powers that are inherently unstable.

The current round of violence began after the massacre of 26 people in Kashmir in late April. India insisted the gunmen were proxies for the Pakistani military. Pakistan denies any connection to the attack.

Pakistan said that missiles were fired at three air bases by India but that most of them were unsuccessful in penetrating the country. The conflict has been going on for a while now and India blames Pakistan for the massacre last month.

There were at least two projectiles that hit the ground in the city of Okara. Residents filmed one careering to the ground, spinning across a field while emitting plumes of smoke as young men dashed out of the way. Two residents described the incident to NPR, but both wanted to remain anonymous because of Pakistan’s interest in the incident.

“There were a number of fireballs in the sky during the night time,” said Gowher Ahmad of Jammu city. Friday was quiet, but Ahmad said he feared the night.

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Jaspreet Kaur, from the border village of Ajote, said most of the 10,000 residents had fled. She said the rest of us were in the basement of a three-story building. Many villagers in the border village of Khari couldn’t flee because they had to take care of their animals, like Karamat’s elderly parents.

India appears to be cracking down more on critics. Mirwaiz Umar Farooq was not allowed to attend Friday prayers in Indian-held Kashmir because he advocated independence for the territory. He urged both countries to de-escalate and not tread on this dangerous path, which could lead to destruction, after sharing his previous Friday sermon.

The social media network X also said it had received “executive orders” from the Indian government to block more than 8,000 accounts, including news organizations, it said in a message on its global affairs account. Those blocked appeared to include Anuradha Bhasin, a prominent Kashmir-based journalist, and The Wire, an independent news site based in New Delhi. Indian authorities did not respond to requests for comment.

Srinagar appeared calm early Saturday but some people living close to the city’s airport said they were rattled by the loud noises of fighter jets.

“I was already awake but the explosions jolted my kids out of their sleep. Mohammed was in Srinagar where he heard at least two explosions.

India, Pakistan, and the G7: “Pakistan says India fired missiles at 3 air bases. Pakistani retaliation underway”

The two countries are at war, even if they aren’t currently classified as one, according to a senior analyst with the International Crisis Group for India.

“It’s become a remorseless race for military one-upmanship, with no apparent strategic end goal from either side,” he said. “With increasing civilian casualties on both sides, finding an exit or off-ramp is going to be challenging.”

The army said that the drones were seen at 26 locations in Indian states near Pakistan and Indian-controlled Kashmir. It said the drones were tracked and engaged.

In Pakistan, the Civil Aviation authority shut the country’s airports for all flights and people in major cities were chanting slogans for the armed forces.

The Group of Seven nations, or G7, urged “maximum restraint” from India and Pakistan. It warned that it posed a serious threat to regional stability.

The Pakistani military said it used medium-range Fateh missiles to target an Indian missile storage facility and airbases in Pathankot and Udhampur. There was no way to independently verify all the actions attributed to Pakistan or India.

According to the army spokesman, Pakistan’s air force assets are safe as a result of the Indian strikes.

The National Command Authority, a body responsible for overseeing the country’s missile program and other strategic assets, has had a meeting convened by the Prime Minister, according to Pakistan Television.

According to Pakistan, the call for calm came prior to Saturday’s missile strike on the Rafiqui air base in the Jhang district of eastern Punjab province.

There was no media access to the air base in Rawalpindi, a densely populated city, and no immediate reports of residents hearing or seeing the strike or its aftermath.

Source: Pakistan says India fired missiles at 3 air bases. Pakistani retaliation underway

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The residents of Indian-controlled Kashmir reported hearing loud explosions in several places, including the two large cities of Srinagar and Jammu and the garrison town of Udhampur.

“We are hearing different kinds of explosions today than we heard the last couple of nights,” said Shesh Paul Vaid, the former top police official and Jammu resident. “It looks like a war here.”