Trump says Pakistan needs our help to resolve Kashmir issue

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The first meeting between Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan and the U.S President Donald Trump took place in the White House on Monday. It marked a new beginning in the complicated relationship between the two countries. There is no secret that the United States and Pakistan haven’t seen eye-to-eye over the last few years. The diplomacy has been strained; events like 9/11 almost stretched them beyond breaking point. The latest meeting between Trump and Khan ushered in the possibility of repairing U.S-Pakistan relations for good. The meeting seemed to go amicably; Pakistani outlets responded positively.

Donald Trump said over the Kashmir dispute, “If I can help, I’d love to be a mediator”. It obviously shows a desire from the U.S President Trump to do deals across the globe. But by offering the U.S mediation in this 70-year conflict, the president also hinted at a shift in the US’s long-standing policy on Kashmir. It was accepted without question that the dispute could only be solved between India and Pakistan, without mediation. Trump said the Prime Minister of India also asked for his help regarding the Kashmir issue, but India immediately rebuffed the US president’s claims. It isn’t surprising that India has rejected third party mediation for decades.

The Indian government likes to call Kashmir a bilateral issue, but it has never engaged in properly meaningful dialogue with Pakistan regarding the issue. The existing UN Security Council also failed to implement its own resolutions of 1948 and 1949 demanding a plebiscite in Kashmir. This is the unfinished business of the India partition agenda of 1947. The countries have gone 3-times to a full-scale war over this relatively small region. Kashmir has emerged as a dangerous flashpoint for nuclear war between both nuclear-armed nations. Dangerous escalations happened on February 2019 and it almost pushed the two countries to the risk. It is noteworthy that Kashmir now has the potential to trigger a nuclear conflict. It would have widespread consequences for the entire continent.