The US State Department has said that while President Donald Trump has offered his services as a mediator between Pakistan and India, no side could be forced to accept mediation. This was as clear an effort to renege on his firm commitment to mediate as possible, and it came at an inopportune time, when the USA was trying to mediate between Iran and Israel. It was inopportune because it showed the most powerful man in the world try to oil out of a commitment. That cannot be helpful when he addresses the Israel-Iran conflict, not with him calling on Iran to surrender unconditionally, and bragging as if a party, that Israel had command of the air.
Mr Trump is a shifty character, whose word cannot be relied on. When he brought about a ceasefire at the Indian request, he said that he was willing to mediate on all matters, including Kashmir. Kashmir must be accepted for the central issue that keeps the peace of the world under the threat of an Indo-Pak nuclear incident. In fact, it is not just the peace of the world, but the existence of the human race. It was only logical that the silence be broken, for if the Indian refusal to talk about Kashmir, or to accept any mediation in the matter, be allowed to stand, as it has for so many decades, the risk to the entire world is too great. Mr Trump has a track record of ducking inconvenient truths. He is among those who deny that there is any global warming, claiming that it is a Chinese conspiracy against the USA. He is now just one step from declaring that there will be no nuclear winter.
Any hope that he would bring pressure to his ally, Israel, to behave carefully and reasonably against Iran, must fade, just as it becomes clear that he is very transactional in his dealings, and is ready to do anything in the moment, so long as a short-term goal is achieved. Just as much as he was ready to mediate on Kashmir. In all probability, he knew full well that India would probably not agree, but he held it out as a sop to Pakistan, to get it to agree to the ceasefire. He has also indirectly conveyed that Pakistan will have to fend for itself over the Indus Water Treaty, which India has suspended, and can expect no help from him.