US President Donald Trump on Monday appeared eager to ease tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan after border skirmishes between the two countries over the weekend, saying he was “good at making peace”.
Intense border clashes between Pakistan and Afghanistan started late on Saturday night and continued into Sunday morning. The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said that 23 troops were martyred and 200 Taliban and affiliated terrorists were killed when Islamabad responded to aggression by Kabul.
The US president, since returning to the White House for his second term in January, had repeatedly insisted in the run up to the Nobel peace prize that he deserved the award for his role in resolving eight conflicts — a claim observers say is broadly exaggerated.
The US president touched on the border hostilities between Pakistan and Afghanistan while speaking to reporters on Air Force One as he flew from Washington to Israel. Tel Aviv and Hamas are set to carry out a hostage-prisoner exchange as part of the first phase of the Gaza peace plan proposed by Trump.
During the interaction with the media, a reporter stated that the US president was receiving credit from Democrats and Republicans for securing the peace deal in Gaza.
“Where do you think it fits into your legacy?” the reporter asked.
“This will be my eighth war that I’ve solved. And I hear now there’s a war going on between Pakistan and Afghanistan. I said, ‘I’ll have to wait till I get back’. I am doing another one’. Because I’m good at solving wars, I’m good at making peace and it is an honour to do it. I save millions of lives,” he said.
