Five jets shot down during India-Pakistan conflict, claims Trump
New York/Washington(PTI): In a fresh claim, US President Donald Trump said "five jets were shot down" during the conflict between India and Pakistan in May and repeated his assertion that the fighting ended following his intervention.
The US president did not specify whether the jets were lost by either of the two countries or whether he was referring to combined losses by both sides.
In virtually rejecting Trump's claim of ending the conflict, New Delhi has been maintaining that the two sides halted their military actions following direct talks between their militaries without any mediation by the US.
Speaking at the White House during a dinner he hosted for Republican senators on Friday, Trump said: "You had India, Pakistan, that was going… in fact, planes were being shot out of the air...four or five. But I think five jets were shot down actually…that was getting worse and worse, wasn't it?
"That was looking like it was going to go, these are two serious nuclear countries, and they were hitting each other," he said.
“But India and Pakistan were going at it, and they were back and forth, and it was getting bigger and bigger. And we got it solved through trade. We said ‘You guys want to make a trade deal. We're not making a trade deal if you're going to be throwing around weapons and maybe nuclear weapons. Both very powerful nuclear states,” Trump said.
He said his administration achieved more in six months than almost any other administration could accomplish in eight years.
"Something I'm very proud of, we stopped a lot of wars, a lot of wars. And these were serious wars,” Trump said.
Since May 10, Trump has repeated his claim several times on various occasions that he “helped settle” the tensions between India and Pakistan and that he told the nuclear-armed South Asian neighbours that America will do a “lot of trade” with them if they stopped the conflict.
India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, targeting terrorist infrastructure in territories controlled by Pakistan in response to the Pahalgam terror attack.
The Resistance Front (TRF), a front for Pakistan-based terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), had claimed responsibility.
The strikes triggered four days of intense clashes that ended with an understanding on stopping the military actions on May 10.
The US on Thursday designated The Resistance Front as a foreign terrorist organisation. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement that the Department of State is adding The Resistance Front (TRF) as a designated Foreign Terrorist Organisation (FTO) and Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT).
India welcomed the US decision to designate TRF as a designated FTO and SDGT.
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Experience comes when you play bigger teams in bilateral series: Rashid Khan
Chennai (PTI): Afghanistan skipper Rashid Khan called for more bilateral series against stronger cricketing nations after his team signed off from the T20 World Cup on a high, defeating Canada in their final group match here on Thursday.
Afghanistan played some exhilarating cricket, going down to South Africa in a gripping second Super Over after the scores were tied, a humdinger that provided one of the early thrills of the World Cup.
However, the spin-bowling stalwart said Afghanistan could make significant strides if they get regular opportunities to compete against stronger cricketing nations.
"Couple of areas to improve, with the batting, the middle order got a bit stuck against the big teams, and then with the bowling the death overs. That comes when you play the bigger teams in bilateral series," said Rashid after his team defeat Canada by 82 runs, with him returning excellent figures of 2 for 19.
The stalwart said the side had arrived well prepared for the tournament and produced some breathtaking cricket, but admitted the narrow defeat to South Africa proved costly and remained a painful setback.
"We were well-prepared (for the tournament), we played some unbelievable cricket. The game against South Africa, that really hurt everyone. We had to win one of those (first two) games and see how the tournament unfolded. We'll take some positive things from this World Cup and look forward," he said.
With head coach Jonathan Trott set to part ways with the team, Rashid described the departure as an "emotional" moment for the side.
"I think we had some wonderful times with him. Where we are now, he played a main role. It's emotional to see him leave us, but that's how life is. We wish him all the best and somewhere down the line we see him again."
Ibrahim Zadran, who was named Player of the Match for his unbeaten 95 off 56 balls, said it was satisfying to finally register a substantial score after two below-par outings.
"I enjoyed it, didn't play better cricket in first two innings, which I expect. Wanted to back my skills, really enjoyed it. Pressure was there, it's there all the time. I want to put myself in pressure situations and enjoy it," said Zadran.
"Wanted to play positive cricket, rotate strike and punish bad ball, create partnerships and this is what I have done."
