WASHINGTON, May 8 (APP/DNA):US President Donald Trump urged India and Pakistan to cease fighting, saying he is open to helping both countries broker a peace agreement, following early Wednesday’s swift Pakistani military response to Indian strikes.

“It’s so terrible,”  President Trump said at the White House on Wednesday. “I get along with both, I know both very well, and I want to see them work it out. I want to see them stop.

“I know both very well, and I want to see them work it out. I want to see them stop. And hopefully they can stop now,” he said.

“They’ve got a tit-for-tat, so hopefully they can stop now. But I know both. We get along with both countries very well. Good relationships with both. And I want to see it stop. And if I can do anything to help I will. I will be there as well.”

Trump initially played down the crisis as part of old tensions between India and Pakistan

But his administration has scrambled into action in the last 24 hours since the Indian strikes in parts of Pakistan and Azad Kashmir.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke to his counterparts from India and Pakistan on Friday, encouraging them to reopen dialogue to “defuse” the situation, the White House said.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif told The Ne York Times  that he would welcome further U.S. efforts to help defuse his country’s crisis with India and praised President Trump.