How Pakistan returned Operation Sindoor favour to Trump in Iran war
India Today
In 2025, Pakistan needed a face-saving exit as India pounded its air bases during Operation Sindoor. Then, it desperately reached out to the US. A year later, the US needed an exit in Iran. Pakistan provided it. A classic case of you scratch my back, and I will scratch yours.
In geopolitics, there are no free lunches. Pakistan army chief Asim Munir must have realised it after his much-publicised closed-door lunch with US President Donald Trump last year, weeks after the conflict with India. During India's Operation Sindoor, Pakistan was facing heavy losses. Key military bases were being hit. Pakistan rushed to the US, which was in contact with both sides. A ceasefire eventually followed, but only after Pakistan directly reached out to India, even as Trump loudly claimed to be the peacemaker.
Fast forward to April 8, 2026, and the ledger seems to have been balanced. With the Iran war spiralling and the US searching for a way out, Trump pushed Pakistan to help broker a ceasefire. It is a classic case of you scratch my back, and I will scratch yours. It speaks volumes about the US-Pakistan tango under Trump.
Until last year, Pakistan was widely seen as an unreliable US partner. However, in the aftermath of the three-day conflict with India following the Pahalgam terror attack, ties between Pakistan and the US have seen a drastic change.
The key to it being both Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and army chief Asim Munir massaging Trump's ego by engaging in over-the-top flattery.
Pakistan not only credited Trump for ending the conflict, much to the chagrin of India, but went on to propose his name for the Nobel Peace Prize. That Trump received an ignoble snub by the Nobel academy is a different matter.
In fact, US public filings revealed Pakistan's desperation to stop Operation Sindoor. Pakistan reached out to the Trump team more than 50 times over calls, emails, and in-person meetings to intervene for a ceasefire. The US played its part by reaching out to India.
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