India, May 20 -- There is understandable rage and dismay in India - and joy in Pakistan -at multiple aspects of President Donald Trump's repeated remarks, including during his visit to the Gulf, a sensitive region for us. We could attribute these to eagerness for instant personal successes, especially given others he set out to achieve still elude him; or, otherwise, to his aversion for war. Yet, it should not be a surprise, given his remarks after the Balakot strike in 2019 and his meetings with Pakistani leaders, the appreciation for Pakistan's counter-terrorism cooperation in the State of the Union address in January, or the transactional, rather than geopolitical, approach to relations with India.

Indian disappointment comes from wha...