Full-scale war was averted between India and Pakistan when they agreed to a United States-mediated ceasefire even as fighting between the traditional South Asian rivals was ratcheting up since Wednesday (May 7) when India struck at nine terrorist camps in Pakistan. India was responding to the terrorists killing 26 civilians in Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir on April 22.

The two sides were firing drone bombs at each other across the border, in which civilians were killed on both sides. India said that it had targeted only the terrorist bases. The United States had quietly done a back-channel exercise with Secretary of State Marc Rubio talking to Ishaq Dar, foreign minister of Pakistan and Dr. S.Jaishanker, External Affairs Minister of India.

The Americans said that the decision of the ceasefire was announced by the two sides themselves. President Donald Trump wrote on his social media........

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