Overwhelming opinion amongst the intelligentsia is that the United States President Donald Trump is throwing tantrums and lying through his teeth. His repeated claims from Washington DC, Kananaskis – the venue for the G-7 summit – and elsewhere have come under close scrutiny internationally.
Big Claim Rings Hollow
The first big claim that President Trump made was to have successfully mediated between Bharat and Pakistan during the almost week-long conflict to avert a nuclear war. The two countries fought a limited war following daylight murder of 26 tourists in Pahalgam of Jammu and Kashmir by ISI sponsored terrorists on April 25, 2025.
Debunking Trump’s Tall Claims
Recently, Bharat’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi categorically debunked President Trump’s falsified claims from White House and outside. Neither was there any mediation, dialogue nor intervention by President Trump to pause the armed conflict. Instead, Operation Sindoor was paused only at specific and desperate request of Pakistan military establishment through regular channels of communication after Bharat pounded its airbases.
In fact, Trump had gone ahead and tweeted to claim his leadership role in dissuading the South Asian neighbours from going to a major nuclear war. Recently, President Trump went a step further and pointed out that international media did not write about his ‘stellar role’ as peacenik between the arch rivals. On the contrary, in his 35-minutes telephonic conversation with Trump, PM Modi unambiguously stated that the latter had no role whatsoever. In fact, the Indian Foreign Office, ‘read out’ by Secretary Vikram Misri, clearly dismissed in most certain terms any mediation by President Trump.
What’s laughable is that Donald Trump repeated his bombastic claim from the Oval office that he stopped the war even after getting a ‘earful’ from Narendra Modi. The second big claim of President Trump is that the trade deal between India and the US was used as leverage to bring around Prime Minister Modi. Again, this has been outrightly dismissed by India. In fact, President Trump’s suggestion that a trade deal in the works between India and his country be leveraged to prevent a larger war was again billed as “preposterous” and “untrue”.
Turning Down the US Invite
To drive home India’s unambiguous position on war with terror infested Pakistan, Modi firmly and politely declined Trump’s invite to stop over in Washington DC for a chat citing “prior commitments”. One cannot recall if the American President’s invite was ever declined by Indian leadership in the past. Few things have been stated crystal clear to President Trump in the telephonic conversation whether he liked it or not. India will not and never accept mediation with Pakistan. This is key articulation of the country’s policy as part of its ‘strategic
autonomy’ framework.
Bharat Has Right to Retaliate
Yet another point made was that funding, sponsoring and abetting terrorism will now be considered war against Bharat and not proxy war. And, hence, Bharat reserves the right to hit back in a manner it deems fit. Thirdly, Jammu & Kashmir is non-negotiable, integral to India and only discussion could be on areas under illegal occupation of Pakistan. In the last few weeks, India exercised maximum restraint in not taking on President Trump’s claim either directly or indirectly. The phone call between the two leaders reflected clarity in articulating India’s position.
Paradoxically, General Asim Munir of Pakistan got close to White House, having a closed door lunch with President Trump. This is something that clearly indicates complete disruption in the US foreign policy under Republican Presidency.
Reports suggesting that President Trump promised hitherto denied defence technologies to Pakistan for using its territory to strike against Iran has its own implications. Old foreign policy hands have an independent analysis on the chain of events including President Trump’s claims that have been eventually denied by Indian Foreign Secretary Misri.
Entire rule book in diplomatic niceties have been consigned to dustbin by President Trump and his bunch of policy advisors from the corporate world while dealing with Presidents and Prime Ministers.
Hosting General Asim Munir has its own nuances and messaging for sure. President Trump seems to have realised that General Munir could be deployed to push the American agenda in Asia. Using Pakistani airbases and Army entry – exit points across 1,000 kilometres long border with Iran will only expand the war theatre between Israel and Iran.
Courting Pak & Eyeing Nobel Peace Prize
Courting Pakistan at most critical junctures has happened even in the past. Hence, Trump – Munir lunch may not have come as a big surprise for some Indian security hawks. Also, Donald Trump may be looking at a defunct and rudderless Pakistan as ‘potential market’ for clinching transactional business deals as well as go down in human history with a ‘peace Nobel’ courtesy Islamabad’s leadership. One big suspicion is that the American Deep State may be playing dirty against Prime Minister Modi’s decisive leadership as it had attempted at denying his re-election for a third consecutive term. Cosying up of the Pakistan military establishment with the Republican White House may have come after a successful trade deal hammered out by Trump and Chinese Communist Party’s iron-fisted President Xi Jingping.
US Is An Unreliable Ally
In ultimate analysis, President Trump comes out as an ‘undependable ally’ for anyone including Bharat. Disruptions in equations with friends and foes may be treated with equanimity by the slippery Trump administration. Rising American societal unrest that has begun to show up in demonstrations and protests may only deepen, threatening the very idea of the
United States of America.
American Deep State and Left aligned lobbies entrenched over decades are bound to exploit the churn to their advantage. In the process, there’s a huge possibility of President Trump getting cornered. In the process, Trump may lose out on Bharat.
