White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks during a press briefing at the White House in Washington, Friday, May 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)(AP)

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on May 15, shared an anecdote from her breakfast in Doha, Qatar, where a waiter from Kashmir reportedly thanked US President Donald Trump for helping bring about a ceasefire between India and Pakistan.

“…my waiter told me to thank President Trump for him,” Leavitt wrote. “I asked him why. He told me he is from Kashmir, and he has been unable to return home in recent weeks due to the India-Pakistan conflict. But he was just notified that he’s now able to return, thanks to the ceasefire mediated by President Trump, @VP & @SecRubio.”

Trump not getting ‘enough credit’

According to Leavitt, the waiter felt that Trump’s role in defusing the crisis has not received proper recognition.

“He said President Trump is not receiving enough credit for literally preventing a nuclear war — and he is right!” she stated in her post.

‘Golden Age’ of Middle East diplomacy

Leavitt used the anecdote to underscore what she described as a broader foreign policy shift under President Trump, characterising his current trip to the Middle East as transformative.

“President Trump inherited so many conflicts around the globe, and he is tackling them one at a time,” she wrote. “This historic trip to the Middle East has marked a significant turn in U.S. foreign policy in the region that will finally usher the Golden Age of the Middle East!”

Peace through strength

Concluding her message, Leavitt echoed a familiar Trump-era slogan: “Peace, through strength, is being restored!”

Trump claims India-Pakistan truce credit; India says DGMO-led deal

Trump has claimed that his administration played a key role in brokering the recent ceasefire between India and Pakistan following the deadly Pahalgam terror attack and the subsequent cross-border strikes under India’s Operation Sindoor.

Speaking at the US-Saudi Arabia Investment Forum in Qatar on May 13, Trump declared: “Just days ago, my administration successfully brokered a historic ceasefire to stop the escalating violence between India and Pakistan. I used trade to a large extent. I said let’s make a deal, let’s do some trading. Let’s not trade nuclear missiles, let’s trade the things you make so beautifully.”

He praised the leadership in both nations, saying: “Both have very powerful, strong and smart leaders. It all stopped and hopefully it will remain that way…They [India-Pakistan] are actually getting along.”

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Background: Operation Sindoor and escalation

The remarks came days after India launched precision strikes on nine terror targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir on May 7, in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam attack in Jammu and Kashmir, which killed 26 civilians, most of them tourists.

Pakistan responded with strikes on Indian military installations on May 8, 9, and 10. The Indian armed forces countered with retaliatory attacks on several Pakistani military targets.

Ceasefire on May 10, but India denies third-party mediation

Hostilities ended on May 10 after a mutual decision to cease all military actions on land, air, and sea. Indian government sources said this understanding was reached through Director General of Military Operations (DGMO)-level talks between the two countries.

They strongly denied any third-party involvement.

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US blocks Pakistan journalist’s question accusing PM Modi of ‘not welcoming’ ceasefire

During a US State Department briefing, a Pakistani journalist’s question about Modi’s stance on India-Pakistan talks was dismissed. Spokesperson Tommy Pigott emphasised America’s focus on the ceasefire, urging direct communication between the two nations

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Updated14 May 2025, 04:11 PM IST

Trump administration spokesperson Pigott declined to engage with the question from Pakistani journalist about PM Modi’s attitude, instead reiterating America’s focus on the India-Pakistan ceasefire agreement itself

Pakistani journalist’s attempt to question the United States on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s alleged opposition to de-escalation talks between India and Pakistan was firmly shut down during a recent US State Department briefing. The exchange took place on Tuesday, amid heightened international attention on the ceasefire brokered between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.

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The reporter asked Tommy Pigott, the US Department of State Principal Deputy Spokesperson: “Pakistan welcomed President Trump’s efforts to bring the ceasefire between Pakistan and India, and they believe that President Trump could win a Nobel Peace Prize if he were to bring peace between Pakistan and India on the Kashmir issue. But Prime Minister Modi did not welcome this effort… Does that disappoint this building at all, the attitude of Narendra Modi of not welcoming this peace deal?”

‘Don’t want to say I did, but…’: In Qatar, Trump reiterates he ‘settled’ India-Pakistan tensions

In Qatar, Donald Trump has once again claimed that he ‘helped settle’ tensions between India and Pakistan.

Donald Trump reiterates that he ‘settled’ India-Pakistan tensions.(REUTERS)

United States President Donald Trump, for the sixth time, has repeated that he helped “settle” the tensions between India and Pakistan that escalated after the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22. Addressing US military personnel at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, Donald Trump said, “And by the way, I don’t want to say I did, but I sure as hell helped settle the problem between Pakistan and India last week, which was getting more and more hostile.”

“And all of a sudden, you’ll start seeing missiles of a different type. And we got it settled. I hope, I hope I don’t walk out of here and two days later find out that it’s not settled, but I think it is settled,” Trump said.

This is one of the multiple times Donald Trump has tried to assert his influence in the India-Pakistan ‘bilateral agreement’, claiming it was he who brokered peace between New Delhi and Islamabad.

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Interim Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa shakes hands with US President Donald Trump in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Wednesday, At right is Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. (AP)

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Ahead of the meeting, Trump shook hands with Al-Sharaa, becoming the first US president in 25 years to meet a Syrian leader. The meeting marked a historic thaw in US-Syria relations, after Trump’s earlier announcement to lift of crippling sanctions imposed during the erstwhile Assad regime.