Top News

Following the failure of negotiations with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to de-escalate tensions with India, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has finally made contact with Army Chief Asim Munir, who is the true core of Pakistan’s power.

“Earlier today, Secretary of State Marco Rubio had a conversation with Pakistani Army Chief Asim Munir,” said State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce on Friday.

The appeal was made as India and Pakistan intensified their conflict, aiming at locations both within and outside of Kashmir.

“The US President wants to see the confrontation de-escalinate as quickly as possible,” Karoline Levitt, a spokesman for Donald Trump, said on Friday.

“This is something that the secretary of state and, of course, now, as our national security advisor as well, Marco Rubio has been very much involved in,” she said.

“US assistance in starting constructive talks in order to avoid future conflicts” was what Bruce said Rubio promised Munir.

She said, “He continued to urge both parties to find ways to de-escalate.”

According to Bruce’s transcript of the discussion, Rubio “emphasised the need for immediate de-escalation” during his conversation with Sharif on Thursday.

According to the spokeswoman, he also contacted India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar the same day and sent a similar message, calling for de-escalation and highlighting the US’ “commitment to work with India in the fight against terrorism”.

Ajit Doval, India’s National Security Advisor (NSA), called Rubio for the first time outside since the start of “Operation Sindoor”.

Following Mike Waltz’s resignation, Rubio is now also the national security adviser.

India started the operation in response to an assault last month in Pahalgam by a front group of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba that murdered 26 people in a massacre that was specifically aimed at religious groups.

Bruce previously outlined the United States’ goals for handling the issue, stating that there should be no escalation and that the two nations should communicate with one another.

“America, obviously, was at the centre of this, in speaking with a variety of leaders of both countries over the last two days,” she said.

Regarding the US participation, however, there have been conflicting statements.

Vice President JD Vance acknowledged that Washington could not manage the issue and said that the dispute between the neighbours was “fundamentally none of our business.”

In a Fox News interview on Thursday, he said, “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 a war that’s fundamentally none of our business and has nothing to do with America’s ability to control it.”

The statement “I am sure they’ll figure it out one way or the other” was Trump’s noncommittal stance prior to India’s operation. but has subsequently called for a de-escalation between the two nations.

Trump is concentrating more on the conflict in Gaza, where a truce between Israel and Hamas that Washington mediated has collapsed. He will be near the most recent South Asian crisis next week. During his planned trips to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, the situation in Gaza will be a major topic of discussion.