- Mentions Putin praised US mediation in global conflicts.
- Complains he wasn’t given the Nobel Peace Prize.
- Says Pakistan-Afghanistan peace is within reach.
US President Donald Trump said he has helped defuse eight global conflicts over the past eight months, citing the Pakistan-India standoff and the Gaza peace deal as examples, during a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House.
“‘This is number nine. This will be number nine for me,” Trump told reporters on Friday ahead of his talks with Zelensky, referencing the Ukraine-Russia conflict that nears its four-year mark.
“I’ve solved eight conflicts, including the Middle East. This [Ukraine-Russia] I thought would have been among the easiest. [Russian President Vladimir] Putin mentioned yesterday — Armenia, you know, all of the different wars. He said it was amazing, but the big one that he was surprised that we were able to settle was the Middle East.”
Zelensky came to Washington seeking arms to bolster his country’s forces in Ukraine’s three-year-old conflict with Russia.
However, Trump frequently highlighted his peace summit with Putin, which took place just weeks earlier, as he and Zelenskiy spoke with reporters.
That meeting hastily came together on Thursday, making clear that Trump remains intent on brokering a peace deal and taking the air out of Zelenskiy’s pitch for the missiles.
Before his private lunch meeting with Zelenskiy, Trump said the two leaders would discuss his call with Putin the previous day.
He again reiterated his belief that his efforts merit the Nobel Peace Prize.
“It’s funny how people say that if you get this one, every time I do one, they forget about that one. I solved eight wars.
“Go to Rwanda and the Congo. Talk about India and Pakistan.
“Look at Thailand. Every time I solve one, they say, ‘If you solve the next one, you’re going to get the Nobel Prize.’ I didn’t get a Nobel Prize.
“Like somebody got it, who’s a very nice woman, very nice. I don’t know who she is, but she was very generous,” Trump said.
Solver of wars
Last week, Trump had said that he was aware of the escalating tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan, claiming he would address the situation once he returned from the Middle East, as he described himself as “good at solving wars.”
“This will be my eighth war that I have solved, and I hear there is a war now going on between Pakistan and Afghanistan. I said, I’ll have to wait till I get back. I am doing another one. Because I am good at solving wars,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he began a flight from Washington to Israel.
“Think about India, Pakistan. Think about some of the wars that were going on for years. We had one going for 31, one going for 32, one going for 37 years, with millions of people being killed in every country, and I got every one of those done, for the most part, within a day. It’s pretty good…,” he added.
‘Man of peace’
Addressing a press conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, following the signing of the Gaza peace agreement, the PM Shehbaz described President Trump as a “genuine man of peace” who had worked relentlessly and untiringly to end global conflicts, including the war in Gaza.
Standing with the US president and other global leaders, the premier said that the world was witnessing “one of the greatest days in contemporary history”.
“He has brought peace not only to South Asia, saving millions of lives, but also to the Middle East through his efforts in Gaza.”
The prime minister remarked that peace had been achieved after months of tireless diplomatic efforts led by President Trump, who has made the world “a place to live with peace and prosperity.”
He hailed Trump as “the man the world needed most at this point in time,” adding that history would remember him as the leader who “stopped seven and today, eight wars.”
“Had it not been for this gentleman [Trump],” Shehbaz said, “a full-scale war between two nuclear powers could have erupted. His timely intervention averted catastrophe.”
The prime minister concluded by saying that Trump’s “visionary and exemplary leadership” had made him a symbol of hope and peace for the world, and that his name “will be remembered in golden words.”
— Additional details from Reuters