What Marco Rubio told Pakistan Army chief Asim Munir as it launches ‘Operation Bunyan Ul Marsoos' against India
The United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio dialled Pakistan army chief Asim Munir on May 9 (local time) and discussed the country's ongoing military conflict with India. He urged both India and Pakistan to de-escalate the ongoing situation and also offered US's assistance in starting 'constructive talks'.
Track live updates of India-Pakistan military conflict here.
Their conversation comes even as Pakistan launched airstrikes on India, in an operation Pakistani media referred to as 'Operation Bunyan Ul Marsoos', on early Saturday morning. This marked an escalation in tensions, coming a day after Pakistan targeted 26 locations in India with drones and missiles in response to India's Operation Sindoor.
According to a statement by the US Department of State, 'Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with Pakistani Army Chief Asim Munir earlier today. He continued to urge both parties to find ways to deescalate and offered U.S. assistance in starting constructive talks in order to avoid future conflicts.'
Also read: India attacks 3 Pakistani airbases after 26 Indian locations targeted: What we know so far
This comes after Rubio called foreign minister S Jaishankar a day before on Thursday and made a similar appeal to him. He also expressed condolences over the death of people who died in the devastating terror attack in Kashmir's Pahalgam on April 22. He reaffirmed the United States' commitment to work with India in the fight against terrorism, according to a statement by the US Department of State.
On Friday, the White House said that President Donald Trump wants the India-Pakistan conflict to de-escalate 'as quickly as possible.'
'The President has expressed he wants to see this de-escalate as quickly as possible. He understands these are two countries that have been at odds with one another for decades, long before President Trump was here in the Oval Office,' said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
Also read: G7 condemns Pahalgam attack, reacts to India-Pakistan conflict: 'Express our support for…'
'This is something that the Secretary of State and, of course, now our national security advisor as well, Marco Rubio, has been very much involved in,' she added.
Early Saturday morning, India attacked three air bases in Pakistan - Nur Khan in Rawalpindi, Murid in Chakwal, and Rafiqui in Jhang. India's move came hours after Pakistani drones were sighted in 26 locations across many areas in Indian states on Friday night.
Following this, several cities across Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab, including Srinagar, Jammu, Rajouri and others woke up to loud explosions on Saturday morning amid shelling by Pakistan.
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