India had strongly opposed any third party intervention on the issue.
US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said on Monday that the United States will try to have a role in de-escalating tensions between India and Pakistan. Haley said that Washington will not wait until “something happensâ€, indicating that the Trump administration will position itself as an interlocutor in patching up the severed relationship of the South Asian neighbors.
“It’s absolutely right that this administration is concerned about the relationship between India and Pakistan and very much wants to see how we de-escalate any sort of conflict going forward,†Haley told reporters at the UN headquarters.
The US has till now maintained an ambivalent attitude on Indo-Pak issues. The new administration is now signaling a shift in that stand.
Haley, a former Governor of South Carolina, is one of the senior republicans in the Trump administration. She was once considered for the post of Secretary of States.
She told reporters that the new administration will be conducting talks with both India and Pakistan to determine its role in the peacekeeping efforts.
Haley, who took charge as the President of the Security Council for the month of April, said, “We don’t think, we should wait till something happens.” She was answering a question on the efforts made by the US to get India and Pakistan together for peace talks as tensions between the neighbors have escalated.
“We very much think that we should be proactive in the way that we are seeing tensions rise and conflicts start to bubble up and so we want to see if we can be a part of that,” Haley said. “So I think that will be something that you will see members of the National Security Council participate in, but also wouldn’t be surprised if the President participates in that as well.”
This is the first time that the someone from the Trump administration has spoken about easing the tension between India and Pakistan. The Obama administration had stepped back from interfering stating that it is a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan.
India had strongly opposed any intervention of third parties and this includes the UN and the US. On the contrary, Pakistan has been asking for the help of interlocutor for resolving the Kashmir issue.