'Cutting India down to size'

Is there something deeper in the US' muted response to Munir's remarks that signals strategic indifference to stability in South Asia?

I think they are actually encouraging the Pakistanis to do this because they think that the Indians have got too big for their boots.

The current American establishment thinks that we need to cut the Indians down to size, and they will pull out all stops to do that.

People think this is just about some trade deal, but why should India take GM seeds from the Americans? Why should we go into bondage with the Americans on something as basic as seeds?

Can one infer that the US is using Munir's threats against India to get even with the Modi government for not succumbing to tariff threats?
I won't say the US president is firing from Munir's shoulders, but he doesn't object if somebody is doing this. What he is probably trying to do is use Pakistan as a tool against India -- partly to negotiate, partly to cut India to size.

That's the old American game, or at least that's what has been the feeling in India -- that it's the Americans who ensure that things never settle down in this region. I would add the Brits to that, but they don't exercise the same power as they did. They just have a great ability to sabotage things and disturb things. - Sushant Sareen, Senior Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation

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'Trump Tilting Towards Pakistan' - Max Abrahms: "What we had not heard before is this sort of nuclear threat from American soil. And if this was the only incident, I would find it rather unremarkable. But what we are currently witnessing is a trend where it appears that this second Trump administration is tilting towards Pakistan and away from India. We've actually seen it throughout this whole summer."

"I will say, however, that even if some of the tariffs are lifted, I still think that the US-India relationship may not fully recover for quite some time under this administration".

"Because the message to India is that the United States isn't reliable, and that is happening at the same time that the US is inviting the army chief of Pakistan for high-level meetings, including with the President in the United States".

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Trump's tariffs spark calls to boycott American goods

From McDonald's and Coca-Cola to Amazon and Apple, U.S.-based multinationals are facing calls for a boycott in India to protest against U.S. tariffs.

India, the world's most populous nation, is a key market for American brands that have rapidly expanded to target a growing base of affluent consumers, many of whom remain infatuated with international labels.

India, for example, is the biggest market by users for Meta's WhatsApp and Domino's has more restaurants than any other brand in the country. Beverages like Pepsi and Coca-Cola often dominate store shelves, and people still queue up when a new Apple store opens or a Starbucks cafe doles out discounts.

Rahm Shastry, CEO of India's DriveU, which provides a car driver on call service, wrote on LinkedIn: "India should have its own home-grown Twitter/Google/YouTube/WhatsApp/FB — like China has."

I am discussing USA & China collaborating to break up India and share different pieces. They will also divide the Muslim parts of South Asia to keep them from uniting into a massive Islamic power. China will want the northern parts and maybe some Marxist belts, along with access…

— Rajiv Malhotra (@RajivMessage) August 13, 2025