At the Gaza Peace Summit held in Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh, the U.S. President Donald Trump stirred diplomatic curiosity with his remarks praising India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi before turning to Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif with a pointed question. “India is a great country, and Prime Minister Modi is a very good friend,” Trump said, addressing a hall of world leaders gathered to discuss post-war stability in Gaza. Moments later, glancing toward Sharif standing behind him, he asked with a grin, “I think Pakistan and India are going to live very nicely together, right?”
The spontaneous exchange drew smiles but also underscored Trump’s familiar pattern of using personal diplomacy to inject levity into tense global settings. Sharif’s polite nod came days after hey publicly credited Trump for “stopping a war” between India and Pakistan and suggested he deserved a Nobel Peace Prize.
India, however, maintains that any de-escalation followed direct military coordination, not U.S. mediation. Yet, Trump’s words at the summit appeared to signal Washington’s continued interest in projecting influence over South Asian peace efforts, even amid shifting regional alignments. The episode reflected how the U.S., while championing peace in the Middle East, continues to spotlight India as a symbol of strategic stability in a turbulent global landscape.
