At a time when the administration of President Donald Trump is trying to cement a short-term ceasefire in Ukraine, end the war in Gaza and strike a comprehensive trade deal with China, the last thing it needed was a conflict between two nuclear-armed rivals.
Last week, India and Pakistan, historic adversaries that have fought multiple wars and smaller-scale skirmishes with each other since the 1940s, entered into their most serious armed dispute in years.
The good news? With last-minute U.S. mediation, cooler heads prevailed. New Delhi and Islamabad found a way to de-escalate, stop the fighting and move toward a future that will hopefully be more benevolent than the past. The bad news: The core issues dividing these two powers will continue to fester like a wound, which means another flare-up is likely months or years down the line.
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