Srinagar, April 26 -- Donald Trump's latest gaffe about Kashmir would almost be funny if the stakes weren't so bloody.

Speaking aboard Air Force One, Trump claimed India and Pakistan have been fighting over Kashmir for "a thousand years."

The American President made it sound an ancient war when in reality, the two nations have been locking horns over Kashmir since 1947, when they were carved out of British India.

But Trump's blunder is not just a one-off slip. It's a symptom of something bigger: decades of American blindness to a conflict that's shaped South Asia's destiny. And the timing could not have been worse.

Just days earlier, Kashmir had seen one of its bloodiest attacks in years, setting off fresh fears of escalation between ...