Trump again claims that he helped 'settle' tensions between India, Pakistan
New York/Washington, Aug 9 (PTI): US President Donald Trump repeated the claim that he got "things settled" between India and Pakistan following the four-day military conflict between the two countries that could have turned into a "nuclear conflict".
Speaking at the White House on Friday, Trump also claimed that five or six planes "got shot down" during the recent conflict between the South Asian neighbours.
The US president did not specify whether the jets were lost by either of the two countries or if he was referring to combined losses by both sides.
New Delhi has been maintaining that India and Pakistan halted their military actions following direct talks between their militaries without any mediation by the US.
Trump made the comments flanked by Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev and Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan after they inked a US-brokered peace agreement during a trilateral signing ceremony.
"As President, my highest aspiration is to bring peace and stability to the world. Today's signing follows our success with India and Pakistan."
"They were going at it, they were going at it big and they were two great leaders that came together just prior to what would have been a tremendous conflict, as you know, a nuclear conflict, probably,” Trump said.
Asserting that he is settling conflicts through trade, Trump said, “I got things settled with India, Pakistan. I think it was trade more than any other reason. That's how I got involved."
"I said, ‘You know, I don't want to be dealing with countries that are trying to blow up themselves and maybe the world'. They are nuclear nations," he said.
Trump referred to the conflict between India and Pakistan twice during his remarks at the event, adding them to the nearly 35 previous occasions where he has claimed that he stopped the war between the two countries through trade.
“That was a big one, getting that one settled. I think you'd agree that was a big one,” Trump said, turning to the Azerbaijani President.
“And they were going at it, you know, they were shooting airplanes out of the sky… five or six planes got shot down in their last little skirmish, and then it was going to escalate from there. That could have gotten to be very, very bad,” Trump claimed.
India has been consistently maintaining that the understanding on cessation of hostilities with Pakistan was reached following direct talks between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of the two militaries.
At the ceremony, Trump added that he is solving conflicts around the world because he wants to save a lot of lives.
“I love saving lives. That's what it's about. And you know, when you save lives, you really end up having a peaceful world. Usually that ends up pretty well.”
Trump also listed the conflicts between Congo and Rwanda, Thailand and Cambodia and Serbia and Kosovo that he said he helped settle.
Responding to a question on the Ukraine war, Trump said, “I think we are getting close."
"I think that a lot of things happened recently that would make this go forward. I'm not going to mention anything having to do with India, but maybe that had an impact. But what really had an impact was NATO has stepped up in terms of their spending on buying military equipment."
Trump also said that no matter what he does, he will not be given the Nobel Peace Prize.
“I'm not politicking for it. I have a lot of people that are…it would be a great honour, certainly, but I would never politick. I'm not doing it for that. I'm doing it because of I really, number one, I want to save lives. That's why I'm involved so much with Ukraine and Russia.”
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Prasidh, Kuldeep limit South Africa to 270 after De Kock's hundred
Visakhapatnam (PTI): India fought back gallantly through Prasidh Krishna and Kuldeep Yadav after Quinton de Kock struck his 23rd hundred, keeping South Africa to a manageable 270 in the third and series-deciding final ODI, here Saturday.
India won the toss after judging the spin of the coin incorrectly 20 times in a row. They had little hesitation in inserting the Proteas into bat, a clear indication of dew factor dominating the thought.
After Arshdeep Singh sent back Ryan Rickelton early, De Kock (106, 89b, 8x4, 6x4) struck his seventh century against India and put on 113 runs off 124 balls with skipper Temba Bavuma (48, 67b) as the visitors moved to a healthy position.
De Kock was severe on Prasidh (4/66), who erred on length continuously in his first spell (2-0-27-0). The left-hander biffed the pacer for 6, 6, 4 in his second over to milk 18 runs.
The 32-year-old quickly pounced on anything that was short, and pacers Prasidh and Harshit offered him plenty of feed on his pet areas.
Bavuma was more sedate, and made runs through those typical dabs and jabs, occasionally unfurling a drive of elan.
De Kock moved to fifty in 42 balls, and never let the tempo down reaching his hundred in 79 balls.
India found temporary relief when Ravindra Jadeja induced a false slash from Bavuma to get caught by Virat Kohli at point.
The tourists got another move on through a 54-run partnership between De Kock and Matthew Breetzkle for the third wicket, and at 168 for two in 28 overs they were in a good position to press on.
But Breetzke's punishment of part-time spinner Tilak Varma forced a rethink in the Indian camp, as skipper KL Rahul brought back Prasidh for a second spell.
What a masterstroke it turned out to be! The Karnataka man broke the back of South Africa’s top and middle order in an exceptional second spell (4-0-11-3).
Breetzke was the first man to go, trapped plumb in front with a straight one and four balls later Aiden Markram uppishly chipped a fuller delivery to Kohli at short covers.
Prasidh soon castled De Kock, whose ugly cross-batted swipe failed to connect a full length delivery from the pacer.
All of a sudden, SA found themselves at a shaky 199 for five, losing three wickets in the space of three overs.
Once Prasidh was done away with the top and middle-order, left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep (4/41) took over and mopped up the tail as SA fell short of even a par total on this track.
