Two days later, on June 18th, America’s president hosted Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, for lunch at the White House. Mr Trump and Mr Modi spoke by phone the day before, allowing India’s leader to assert that the recent conflict ended at Pakistan’s request and to reaffirm his objections to mediation on Kashmir.

The rare one-on-one meeting between a Pakistani military chief and a U.S. president could rile India after the worst fighting between the nuclear-armed rivals in South Asia for decades, which Trump took responsibility for helping defuse.