US Role in India-Pakistan Tensions: From Four Wars to Trump's Mediation Claims

Highlights The United States personally claims to have mediated the most recent India-Pakistan ceasefire, in May 2025. America's policy changed from Cold War impartiality (1947-48) to intervention, including Nixon's ‘tilt toward Pakistan’ in 1971. Congressional Research Service documented US arms embargo policies during the 1965 war, marking a departure from Pakistani expectations. Trump administration's claim on Kashmir mediation offer faces India's traditional resistance to third-party intervention.

The Four-Day Crisis That Shook the World

The Pahalgam attack on April 22, 2025, killing twenty-five Indian nationals and one Nepalese national [1], triggered an Indo-Pak conflict after several years. India's precision strikes against terrorist camps[2]  represented a fundamental shift in counter-terrorism policy, while Pakistan condemned these so-called "blatant aggressions.”

The fear was extreme: two nuclear-armed neighbours waving their most lethal weapons in each other’s faces in what diplomatic observers referred to as “sabre-rattling”. Ironically, the citizens of each country had been cheering each other's cricket prowess merely weeks earlier.

The Four Wars: America's Shifting Allegiances

1947-48 Kashmir War: As Pakistan sent tribals against Kashmir, Washington remained carefully neutral, while Britain, the ex-colonial power, was inclined toward India. The US had its eyes on European reconstruction and viewed the Kashmir conflict as a regional distraction from broader Cold War priorities.

1965 War: The entire strategic calculus in Washington underwent a significant shift. Congressional Research Service reports document how the US arms embargoes were imposed upon both Indian and Pakistani governments, marking a departure from earlier Pakistani expectations of Western support [3]. Both superpowers stepped back, with the Soviet Union emerging as India's primary weapons supplier.

1971 Bangladesh War: The presidential tilt toward Pakistan is one of the most famous in diplomatic history. Despite the massive evidence of Pakistani atrocities in East Bengal, Washington supported Islamabad in the belief that Pakistan was an essential conduit to China. The war came to an end, with Pakistan being dismembered and the birth of Bangladesh, thereby altering regional power dynamics.

1999 Kargil Conflict: President Bill Clinton's intervention proved decisive. Facing Pakistani infiltration across the Line of Control, India launched limited military action against the intruders. Direct pressure on Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif induced Pakistan's withdrawal from the Kargil heights, making America the ultimate arbitrator in the region.

Trump's Mediation Gambit

On May 10, Trump posted on social media that he had mediated talks between India and Pakistan and it resulted in the ceasefire.

 

 

However, Trump's[4]  mediation claims face institutional scepticism.

India has always been reluctant to accept third-party roles in any mediation between India and Pakistan. The claim has always been a bilateral negotiation between the two countries. One of the reasons is because New Delhi does not want India to be re-hyphenated with Pakistan after the current Prime Minister has put a lot of effort in de-hyphenating India from Pakistan.

Since 2014, the Indian Government has focused on India-Pakistan dehyphenation. In the West, India has been geopolitically linked with Pakistan. However, the Indian Government has continued to call out Pakistan as a terrorist promoting state and has continued to play a role more as an independent global leader than a regional player in South Asia.[5] 

Even Operation Sindoor was deployed against terrorism in Pakistan.

With Trump's statement, India fears a re-hyphenation of India and Pakistan - a move that the Indian Government has tried to fight against.

The Ministry of External Affairs has also issued a rebuttal: “From May 7, when Operation Sindoor began, to May 10, when military action ceased, there were conversations between Indian and US leaders. Trade issues did not come up in any of these discussions.”[6] 

Even US Vice President JD Vance has mentioned on the conflict: “That’s fundamentally none of our business,“We can encourage de-escalation, but we’re not going to get, but we’re not going to get involved in the middle of a war”

According to Professor Puspesh Pant, “Donald Trump is irrational and unpredictable. Any attempt to interpret his foreign policy through tweets is bound to be misleading.” Strategic Implications

This recent turn of events emphasizes that India does not require third-party intervention to mitigate tensions between India and Pakistan. As of now, both countries are on a mission to manage how they are perceived globally and hopefully, resume peaceful interactions with each other and the world.