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India-Pakistan tensions
AsiaSouth Asia

US ‘can’t control’ war between India and Pakistan, Vance says

The US vice-president urged both sides to show restraint, hoping the fighting does not spiral into a ‘nuclear conflict’

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A woman stands outside her house destroyed by Pakistani shelling at a village in Uri, India-administered Kashmir, on May 8. Photo: AFP
Reuters
US Vice-President J.D. Vance said on Thursday that India and Pakistan should de-escalate tensions, but he added that the US cannot control the nuclear-armed Asian neighbours and a war between them would be “none of our business”.

“We want this thing to de-escalate as quickly as possible. We can’t control these countries, though,” Vance said in an interview on Fox News show The Story with Martha MacCallum.

“What we can do is try to encourage these folks to de-escalate a little bit, but we’re not going to get involved in the middle of war that’s fundamentally none of our business and has nothing to do with America’s ability to control it,” he added.

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India is an important partner for Washington, which aims to counter China’s rising influence, while Pakistan remains a US ally despite its diminished importance after Washington’s withdrawal from neighbouring Afghanistan in 2021.
Analysts and some former officials have said US involvement to achieve diplomatic goals in Russia’s war in Ukraine and Israel’s war in Gaza may make Washington leave India and Pakistan on their own in the early days of their tensions, without much direct pressure from the US government.
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Pakistan and India accused each other of launching drone attacks, and Islamabad’s defence minister said further retaliation was “increasingly certain” on the second day of major clashes on Thursday. Two days of fighting killed nearly four dozen people.

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