Taking charge of a peace mission in the Caucasus would promote peace more than Donald Trump’s empty ceremonies, bolster India’s diplomatic influence, and further cement its markets as its influence grows in Armenia. India’s proven peacekeeping role could offer real stability to the Armenia-Azerbaijan border where Trump’s declarations have fallen short.
On August 8, 2025, Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan met US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office. According to the White House press release, the three leaders “signed a historic joint declaration for peace after decades of bitter conflict and scores of lives lost — a landmark achievement for international diplomacy that only President Trump could deliver.”
In reality, peace remains distant. Whether his Gaza peace plan, the peace between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, or his much-ballyhooed claim that he ended the “1,000-year-old” India-Pakistan conflict in a mere 24 hours, the reality is that Trump’s declarations of peace are akin to holding a grand opening ribbon-cutting for a building whose foundation is not even completely dug.
Trump’s antics can cost lives. Ilham Aliyev, Azerbaijan’s pro-Turkey dictator, uses the mantle of peace to launder his image, but he appears to be prepping for war. To drive along the Armenia-Azerbaijan border, adjusted after the Nagorno-Karabakh War, is to witness not an embrace of peace but preparations for war. While Armenia constructs simple two-story border posts — the ground floor for passport and customs processing and the second floor as lodging for officials assigned to those sometimes-remote areas — Azerbaijani posts less than a kilometer away come with helicopter landing pads, soldiers’ dormitories, and mortar emplacements. Despite border demarcation using Soviet maps, Azerbaijan still occupies more than 200 kilometers of Armenian land. Azerbaijan has shown hostile intent with cross-border sniping and artillery attacks, sometimes even targeting American investment projects and wounding Indian workers.
To protect itself from further Azerbaijani encroachment, Armenia invited European Union observers to monitor its borders and document Azerbaijani violations. In Kapan, capital of the Syunik province, the monitors observe the landing and take-off of aircraft at the airport which abuts the province, lest Azerbaijan shoot down a passenger plane, claiming it strayed a meter or two into its airspace.
The presence of observers there has likely saved dozens of lives and prevented an incident that could have quickly become a pretext for war. Nevertheless, Aliyev has complained that such border and air traffic monitoring missions are illegal because they occur without his approval, but this just shows his disdain for Armenian sovereignty. After all, why should Armenia seek Azerbaijan’s permission for unarmed activity that occurs within its sovereign territory? Nevertheless, Aliyev has demanded Pashinyan remove European monitors as a condition for peace.
