Washington continues to keep a close watch on developments between India and Pakistan “every single day”, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said days after US President Donald Trump once again claimed that he had brokered a ceasefire between the two countries.
Rubio’s comments came in response to a question in an interview to NBC News Meet The Press on the sharp rise in Russian attacks on Ukraine after Trump assumed charge at the Oval Office.
“The only way to have a ceasefire is for both sides to agree to stop firing at one another. And the Russians just haven’t agreed to that. One of the complications about ceasefires is they have to be maintained, which is very difficult. I mean, every single day we keep an eye on what’s happening between Pakistan and India, what’s happening between Cambodia and Thailand. Ceasefires can fall apart very quickly, especially after a three-and-a-half-year war like what we’re facing now,” Rubio said.
His remarks came days after Trump again claimed that he had “brokered a ceasefire deal” between India and Pakistan. It was around the 40th such assertion made by Trump, which New Delhi has consistently refuted, reiterating that all matters with Pakistan are strictly bilateral.
On being asked why the Trump administration had not imposed fresh sanctions on Russia despite repeated threats from Trump, Rubio said, “Every single sanction that was in place on the day he took over remain. Every and the impact of all those sanctions remain. When the Russians landed in Alaska, they tried they were there to refuel. They had to offer to pay in cash to refuel their airplanes because they can’t use our banking system. They face consequences every single day. But the bottom line is that that has not altered the direction of this war. That doesn’t mean those sanctions are inappropriate. It means it hasn’t altered the outcome of it.”
“And the minute you issue new sanctions, your ability to get them to the table, our ability to get them to the table, will be severely diminished, ” he further added.
Meanwhile, ties between Washington and New Delhi faced fresh strain on the trade front. Government sources confirmed that the US team would not travel to India for the sixth round of bilateral trade negotiations scheduled for August 25.
