Curiously, just a day earlier, Vance had told a TV news network that the US “had no business” intervening in the conflict — even as Washington had already been working behind the scenes and had stepped up its involvement since Friday.Although the official ceasefire was triggered by a Saturday afternoon call (around 3:35 pm) from Pakistan’s Director General of Military Operations to his Indian counterpart, CNN reported that it was Vance who urged Modi to open a direct line of communication with Islamabad and explore de-escalation measures. He reportedly presented Modi with a “potential off-ramp”—one the US believed Pakistan might accept.In addition, Rubio spoke with Pakistan’s army chief Asim Munir, the key powerbroker in Islamabad. Rubio “emphasised that both sides need to identify methods to de-escalate and re-establish direct communication to avoid miscalculation,” the State Department said.Meanwhile, senior ministers from Iran and Saudi Arabia visited both countries in recent days, intensifying diplomatic pressure on both sides to de-escalate. And along with them Türkiye sought US to mediate.And on Saturday, after four days of cross-border shelling, precision airstrikes, and drone incursions — targeting terrorist and military sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, and military and civilian infrastructure in India — tensions that had escalated since the Pahalgam terror attack finally began to cool down.While global calls for restraint continued, mediation by the US and diplomatic efforts from Gulf states had become essential.’A new playbook'”What we’re seeing now is unprecedented. We have not seen these types of attacks before — missiles, drones, planes sent over populated cities,” said Abdul Basit, a senior associate fellow at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.”It’s a new playbook,” said Basit, with mediators needed to “help with the victory narrative for both sides” in order to de-escalate.”In this case, emotions and mistrust are so high that international mediation will be of the essence,” said Michael Kugelman, a Washington DC-based South Asia analyst.”There’s still no clear path to an off ramp,” he added.
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