Trump Repeats Claim Of Ending India–Pakistan Conflict, Says He Stopped Eight Wars

US President Donald Trump has once again claimed credit for halting a conflict between India and Pakistan, repeating his assertion that he has ended eight wars but was overlooked for the Nobel Peace Prize, according to PTI.

In an interview with The New York Times last week, Trump said he had brought an end to “eight wars”, including tensions between India and Pakistan, which he described as “tough wars” that had lasted decades. “I ended eight wars. I — If you look at those wars, these were tough wars to end, too. And let me tell you, India and Pakistan were going at it. As you know, they were going at it...But that was one of eight. But we ended eight strong wars. Some have been going on for more than 30 years,” he said.

Trump also reiterated his criticism of former President Barack Obama receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, PTI reported. “I've ended — remember this, I’ve ended eight wars. Nobody else has ever done that. I’ve ended eight wars and didn’t get the Nobel Peace Prize. Pretty amazing. Obama got it. He was there for a few weeks, and he got it. He didn’t even know why he got it. They asked him, why did he get it? He was unable to answer the question,” he said.

This was the third time in as many days last week that Trump claimed he had stopped a conflict between India and Pakistan. According to PTI, he has made this assertion around 80 times since May 10 last year, when he announced on social media that India and Pakistan had agreed to a “full and immediate” ceasefire after a “long night” of talks mediated by Washington. India has consistently rejected any suggestion of third-party mediation.

Trump repeated the claim during a meeting at the White House on Friday with oil and gas executives to discuss plans related to Venezuelan oil reserves. “Look, whether people like Trump or don't like Trump, I settled eight wars, big ones. Some going on for 36 years, 32 years, 31 years, 28 years, 25 years, some just getting ready to start like India and Pakistan, where already eight jets were shot out of the air, and I got it done in rapid order without nuclear weapons,” he said, as reported by PTI.

He also said Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who visited the White House last year, had publicly credited him with preventing large-scale loss of life by stopping the conflict between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. “The Pakistani leader made a very public statement. He said that President Trump saved a minimum of 10 million lives, having to do with Pakistan and India, and that was going to be raging,” Trump said.

Earlier, in an interview with Fox News on Thursday, Trump again claimed that he had stopped a war between India and Pakistan, describing the two countries as nuclear powers “ready to go at it big”. He repeated his assertion that eight planes were shot down during the conflict. “Because some of these wars were going on for 30 years. India and Pakistan were ready to go at it big. And these are two nuclear countries. I got that one stopped. Eight planes were shot down. They were really at it, and I got it stopped. It was a big one,” he said.

Trump added that he believed a Nobel Peace Prize should be awarded for stopping each war.

(With inputs from PTI)