Vice President J.D. Vance is seriously struggling to stay in step with President Donald Trump‘s messaging.
Just two days after Vance declared the India-Pakistan conflict “none of our business,” Trump swept in with a different message—announcing that the U.S. helped broker a ceasefire between the two countries.
Vance had claimed during a Fox News interview Thursday that the U.S. wouldn’t play a major role in trying to stop the escalating conflict between the two nuclear-armed neighbors.
“What we can do is try to encourage these folks to de-escalate a little bit, but we’re not going to get involved in the middle of war that’s fundamentally none of our business and has nothing to do with America’s ability to control it,” Vance said, likely expecting to be in line with Trump’s “America First” foreign policy.
On Saturday morning, however, Trump took to Truth Social to take credit for a ceasefire he said his administration had brokered.
“After a long night of talks mediated by the United States, I am pleased to announce that India and Pakistan have agreed to a FULL AND IMMEDIATE CEASEFIRE,” he wrote. “Congratulations to both Countries on using Common Sense and Great Intelligence.”
Vance quickly posted on X, “Great work from the President’s team, especially Secretary Rubio. And my gratitude to the leaders of India and Pakistan for their hard work and willingness to engage in this ceasefire.”
In March, Vance was revealed to have questioned Trump’s foreign policy messaging behind the president’s back when his Signal messages were leaked.
“I am not sure the president is aware how inconsistent this is with his message on Europe right now,” Vance texted other members of the Trump Cabinet. He said framing planned U.S. strikes on Houthi forces in Yemen as protecting European trade was a “mistake,” given that Trump had launched a trade war against Europe.
Contradicting Trump’s claims, India on Saturday said that the ceasefire with Pakistan was negotiated “directly between the two countries,” according to Rolling Stone.
However, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif did take to X late Saturday morning to “thank President Trump for his leadership and proactive role for peace in the region,” and also expressed his gratitude toward Vance and Rubio. “Pakistan appreciates the United States for facilitating this outcome, which we have accepted in the interest of regional peace and stability,” Sharif said.
Regardless of who brokered the deal, the truce didn’t hold. Within hours of the announcement, India’s foreign secretary Vikram Misri accused Pakistan of breaking the ceasefire almost immediately, telling reporters there had been “repeated violations of the understanding arrived between the two countries today.”
In response, Pakistan’s foreign ministry said the country “remains committed to a faithful implementation of the ceasefire” and accused India of violating the truce “in some areas,” according to CNN.
Tensions between the countries are at their highest levels in more than two decades after India hit Pakistan with missiles on Wednesday in retaliation for a terror attack on tourists in India-controlled Kashmir last month. The Kashmir region is divided between India and Pakistan, but both nations claim full sovereignty over it.
Trump called the missile attack “a shame” and said he hoped it would “end quickly,” but it wasn’t until Friday that Vance reportedly called Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to urge him to deescalate.
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