US President Donald Trump appeared eager Monday to ease tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan following border skirmishes between the two countries over the weekend, saying he was “good at making peace.”
Intense border clashes between Pakistan and Afghanistan began on Saturday night and continued until Sunday morning. The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said 23 soldiers were martyred and 200 Taliban and affiliated terrorists were killed as Islamabad responded to Kabul’s aggression.
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 consider widely exaggerated.
The US president referred to the recent border skirmishes between Pakistan and Afghanistan while speaking to reporters on Air Force One while flying from Washington to Israel. Tel Aviv and Hamas are preparing to carry out an exchange of hostages and prisoners as part of the first phase of Trump’s proposed peace plan for Gaza.
During the media interaction, a journalist claimed that the US president was receiving credit from Democrats and Republicans for securing the Gaza peace deal.
“Where do you think it fits into your legacy?” the journalist asked.
“This will be the eighth war I’ve solved. And now I heard there’s a war between Pakistan and Afghanistan. I said, ‘I’ll have to wait until I get back.’ I’m doing another one. Because I’m good at solving wars, I’m good at making peace, and it’s an honor to do it. I save millions of lives,” he said.
Commenting on the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, he said: “To be fair to the Nobel committee, it was for 2024… But there are those who say that an exception can be made because a lot of things happened during 2025 that are already done, completed and great.
“But I didn’t do this for the Nobel, I did it to save lives,” he said.
“Think about India-Pakistan. Think about some of the wars that were going on for years. We had one for 31 years. [years]one goes for 32 [years] and another that lasts 37 years. And I finished each of them, for the most part, in one day. “It’s pretty good,” he said.
He went on to say that he had resolved “some of the wars based solely on tariffs.”
“With India and Pakistan, I said if you want to fight a war and you have nuclear weapons, I’m going to impose big tariffs on both of you; like 100 percent, 150 percent and 200 percent… I resolved that in 24 hours. If I didn’t have tariffs, that war could never have been resolved,” he said.
Trump has repeatedly taken credit for ending the May conflict between India and Pakistan. The conflict, the worst between the old enemies in decades, was sparked by an attack on Hindu tourists in occupied Kashmir, which New Delhi, without evidence, said was backed by Pakistan. Pakistan has denied involvement and the Ministry of External Affairs has questioned the credibility of India’s account of the events, saying it was “full of lies”.
Both sides used fighter jets, missiles, artillery and drones during the four-day conflict, killing dozens of people, before agreeing to a ceasefire. Immediately after the conflict, Pakistan said it shot down six Indian fighter jets during the conflict, including the French-made Rafale. New Delhi acknowledged “some losses” during the conflict, but denied losing six planes.
Additional information from AFP and Reuters
