During a phone call on June 17, Mr. Trump brought it up again, saying how proud he was of ending the military escalation. He mentioned that Pakistan was going to nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize, an honor for which he had been openly campaigning. The not-so-subtle implication, according to people familiar with the call, was that Mr. Modi should do the same. The Indian leader bristled. He told Mr. Trump that U.S. involvement had nothing to do with the recent cease-fire. It had been settled directly between India and Pakistan.

A private car ride with Vladimir Putin may not be as special as President Donald Trump thought. With a backseat bromance of their own, as well as hand-holding and hugs, the Russian leader, his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, and their host, Chinese leader Xi Jinping, put on a display Monday that seemed designed to turn heads in Washington.

Bill Clinton, who laid the foundation of the modern U.S.-India partnership, called the two democracies ‘natural allies.’ George W. Bush described them as ‘brothers in the cause of human liberty.’ Barack Obama and Joe Biden cast the relationship as one of the defining global compacts of this century. To Washington, India was a vast emerging market, a potential counterweight to China, a key partner in maintaining Indo-Pacific security and a rising power whose democratic identity would bolster a rules-based international order.