While Kashmir is a bilateral issue for both parties to discuss, the Trump administration welcomes #Pakistan and… https://t.co/qTyLLH67Q9 — State_SCA (@State_SCA) 1563837466000

We have seen @POTUS's remarks to the press that he is ready to mediate, if requested by India & Pakistan, on Kashmi… https://t.co/WEVHyMhwXL — Raveesh Kumar (@MEAIndia) 1563820127000

How Trump triggered the controversy

PRIME MINISTER KHAN

PRESIDENT TRUMP

Trump

WASHINGTON: Trump administration mandarins, US lawmakers, and American foreign policy interlocutors began damage control measures on Monday night to mollify New Delhi after President Trump’s off-the-cuff offer to mediate on the Kashmir issue touched off a firestorm in the diplomatic circuit. Hours after Trump’s remarks, US officials finessed his words to clarify that Washington still believes Kashmir is a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan, and US stands ready only to assist the two parties.Amid an uproar in diplomatic circles over Trump stepping into the Kashmir quagmire, which New Delhi has long maintained is for India and Pakistan to resolve, the State Department’s South Central Asia bureau that oversees US regional policy tweeted: While Kashmir is a bilateral issue for both parties to discuss, the Trump administration welcomes #Pakistan and #India sitting down and the United States stands ready to assist.The tweet was signed with the initials AGW, which presumably stands for Alice Wells, the acting assistant secretary of state for South Central Asia and the state department’s pointperson for the region. A factsheet issued by the White House at the conclusion of the Trump-Khan talks also avoided all mention of Kashmir.Earlier in the day, Trump threw the regional diplomatic circuit into a flap by claiming that Prime Minister Modi had asked him to mediate or arbitrate on the Kashmir issue. Within minutes of the claim being aired, India’s external affairs ministry refuted it, saying the prime minister had made no such request and “it has been India's consistent position that all outstanding issues with Pakistan are discussed only bilaterally.”“Any engagement with Pakistan would require an end to cross border terrorism. The Shimla Agreement and the Lahore Declaration provide the basis to resolve all issues between India and Pakistan bilaterally,” the MEA statement said.Trump went so far as to relate a conversation he purportedly had with Modi, claiming: “I was with Prime Minister Modi two weeks ago, and we talked about this subject. And he actually said, “Would you like to be a mediator or arbitrator?” I said, “Where?” He said, “Kashmir.”The US President’s assertion, seen as fanciful even among American interlocutors, came after visiting Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan publicly asked him to intervene in the matter. “Everyone who knows anything about foreign policy in South Asia knows that #India consistently opposes third-party mediation re #Kashmir. Everyone knows PM Modi would never suggest such a thing. Trump’s statement is amateurish and delusional. And embarrassing,” said Congressman Brad Sherman , tweeting that he had “ just apologized to Indian Ambassador @HarshShringla for Trump’s “amateurish and embarrassing mistake.”Eliot Engel, Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs also phoned Shringla to reiterate his support for the longstanding US position on the Kashmir dispute, saying he supported dialogue between India and Pakistan but the dialogue’s pace and scope can only be determined by India and Pakistan. “He also reaffirmed that in order for dialogue to be meaningful, Pakistan must first take concrete and irreversible steps to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure on Pakistan’s soil,” according to a statement from his office.The fact that the South Asia bureau had to finesse the President rambling remarks suggested even bureaucrats in the administration were caught unawares by Trump’s meandering excursion into the Kashmir quagmire.It all began at the White House Oval Office, where pool reporters and visiting Pakistani scribes had gathered, largely for a photo op, tv footage of handshakes, opening remarks, and sometimes one or two questions, the standard operating protocol for the media before they are ushered out. A Pakistani reporter set the ball rolling asking Trump how he expected to strengthen ties with Pakistan “when India and US. has developed an alliance in the region” and “when your preference is India.”“I will say that we have a very good relationship with India. I know that your relationship is strained a little bit. Maybe a lot. But we will be talking about India; a very big part of our conversation today. And I think maybe if we can help intercede and do whatever we have to do. But I think it's something that can be brought back together. And we'll also be talking about Afghanistan. But we will be talking about India and Afghanistan very much so,” Trump responded.While this offer to talk to India in the context of Afghanistan was harmless enough, the Kashmir fuse was a little down the road. Questions from the US media about Huawei, North Korea, Iran, and domestic politics followed, even as Pakistani journalists tried to draw Trump back to the region.One Pakistani scribe finally managed to ask Trump whether he would play any role in Kashmir “where millions have been dead.” That, as political commentator David Frum would later day, was cue for Imran Khan to “take advantage Trump's bottomless vanity to drive a wedge between US and India on Kashmir”“I feel that only the most powerful state, headed by President Trump, can bring the two countries together,” Khan began, sucking up to the US President. “We’ve made all overtures to India to start dialogue, resolve our differences through dialogue…. we haven’t made headways as yet. But I’m hoping that President Trump would push this process.”Trump was off and running: “And I think they’d like to see it resolved. And I think you’d like to see it resolved. And if I can help, I would love to be a mediator. It shouldn’t be -- I mean, it’s impossible to believe two incredible countries that are very, very smart, with very smart leadership, can’t solve a problem like that. But if you want me to mediate or arbitrate, I would be willing to do that.: President, I can tell you that, right now, you would have the prayers of over a billion people if you can mediate and resolve this issue.: It should be resolved. So it -- but he asked me the same, so I think there’s something. So maybe we’ll speak to him or I’ll speak to him, and we’ll see if we can do something because I’ve heard so much about Kashmir. Such a beautiful name. It’s supposed to be such a beautiful part of the world. But right now there’s just bombs all over the place. They say everywhere you go, you have bombs and it’s a terrible situation. Been going on for many years. If I can do anything to help that, let me know.He just wouldn’t, or couldn’t stop himself. There were rambling digressions on trade, on press freedom, and Afghanistan, which he could solve within a week or ten days by wiping it off the face of the earth but that would mean killing ten million people and he did not want to go that route.By this time, the pool spray had been going on for nearly half an hour. But the Pakistan media was not done with him yet. One Pakistan scribe asked a meandering question about "India’s efforts to destabilize" Pakistan, a country that hosted 9/11 hijackers and masterminds including Osama bin Laden, and asked Trump if he will be playing a role in stopping India.: I think I can very well. I have a very good relationship with Prime Minister Modi. And I think we're going to have a phenomenal relationship with the Prime Minister of Pakistan. I do think that it's a two-way street. You know, you say India is coming in and destabilizing Pakistan, but India is saying that Pakistan is coming in and destabilizing. So there's a lot of room right there where we can meet. I think we can meet.With any other US President, such gratuitous remarks could have constituted a provocation and a crisis. But given the broad all round acknowledgement that Trump is clueless just about everything (history, geography, global politics) and just wings it on most occasions, Monday’s episode is expected to be just a blip in India-US ties if New Delhi chooses not to escalate it or react too strongly – which it did not.Still, the amateur hour left many veteran commentators astonished. “By offering to mediate on Kashmir, Trump said something deeply provocative to India, which has always refused 3rd party mediation. India is America's most important "natural ally" in its rivalry with China. Hard to overstate the stupidity and ignorance of what Trump said,” tweeted Ed Luce, a Financial Times columnist who was previously based in the subcontinent.The Pakistani media meanwhile was in transports of delight at Trump’s offer to mediate on the Kashmir, reporting it as if the state had been handed over to Pakistan. However, a sobering realization of the complexity and US limitations on the issue arrived soon after by way of the official clarification about it being a bilateral matter – and the issue finding no mention in the White House statement following the talks.“Pakistan has taken some steps against terrorist groups operating within Pakistan. It is vital that Pakistan take action to shut down all groups once and for all,” the factsheet issued after the luncheon meeting said, adding that “Pakistan has made efforts to facilitate the Afghanistan peace talks, and we are going to ask them to do more.”