Trump urges Pakistan-India talks on Kashmir in call with PM Imran

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump talked by phone Friday with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and urged that Pakistan engage with India to defuse tensions in the flashpoint region of Kashmir, the White House said.

In a statement, deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley said President Trump conveyed the importance of Pakistan and India reducing tensions through bilateral dialogue regarding the situation in occupied Kashmir.

PM Imran Khan visited the White House last month and the contacts come as the United States is apparently closing in a possible peace deal with the Taliban in Afghanistan.

However, tension over occupied Kashmir between nuclear-armed Pakistan and India is throwing the region into new danger.

During his meeting with PM Imran Khan in July, Trump said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had asked him to mediate in the conflict — a claim that the Indian government denied.

India has always insisted the Kashmir issue can only be resolved bilaterally with Pakistan.

Earlier Friday, Pakistan’s foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said Khan and Trump had "exchanged on the situation in the region and particularly the situation in occupied Kashmir."