US taking a hands-off approach
Tom Bateman
US State Department correspondent
BBC
The White House is taking a hands-off approach to this crisis, characterised by Donald Trump’s Oval Office comment on Tuesday that "it’s a shame”.
Today he says there is a “tit-for-tat”, and he wants “to see it stop”, but without specifying how.
The US State Department said on Tuesday night it was monitoring the situation but is still yet to update that statement.
The lack of an explicit American call for restraint since the Indian strikes, leaving other countries to fill that diplomatic void, reflects the US’s strengthening ties with India over recent years, and the relative isolation of Pakistan, with which the US has long had a more troubled relationship.
It appears the White House has been attempting to leave Delhi with space to act. But that approach might not last long.
During the last major crisis between India and Pakistan in 2019, the Trump administration at first fully-backed what it saw as India’s right to target militants who had struck in Indian-administered Kashmir, but quickly turned to calls for de-escalation as the crisis rapidly escalated.