President Trump suggested that New Delhi was ready to charge the United States “no tariff.” India’s foreign minister said that the two countries were still negotiating.

India exchanged a Pakistani paramilitary fighter for a border security guard that Pakistan had held for weeks. Each officer had been detained before the countries’ military skirmish started.

President Trump’s repeated descriptions of U.S. mediation efforts between India and Pakistan have hit sore spots in Indian politics.

The Trump administration’s public descriptions of its role in the mediation seemed to touch some sensitive spots politically in India.

New developments in the nuclear powers’ harrowing four-day conflict, along with entrenched religious nationalism on each side, could signal more frequent battles ahead.

Some details are clouded by contradictory statements and disinformation. But a pattern of rapid escalation brought the conflict to the brink of catastrophe.