Inside the White House's effort to pull India, Pakistan back from the brink of war

Senior officials began to fear that the situation could spiral out of control with neither side seriously considering options for de-escalation after Pakistan hit back at Indian military sites on Friday following an Indian missile attack on Pakistan. 

The strikes mark the latest escalation between the nuclear-armed rivals, a move triggered by a mass shooting for which India blames Pakistan.

In his noon phone call with Modi, Vance made it clear that the U.S. believed that there was a high probability of dramatic escalation as the conflict went into the weekend. 

The vice president encouraged Modi to consider de-escalation options, including a potential off-ramp that U.S. officials knew the Pakistanis would be amenable to. 

Modi listened to the vice president's message, although he didn't explicitly indicate openness to any of the options put forth. 

From that point, key U.S. officials continued to work the phones with their counterparts in India and Pakistan into the night to help re-establish communications between the two sides, allowing them to work out terms for a ceasefire in the next 12 to 18 hours. 

"After a long night of talks mediated by the United States, I am pleased to announce that India and Pakistan have agreed to a FULL AND IMMEDIATE CEASEFIRE," President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social just before 8 a.m. on Saturday. Congratulations to both Countries on using Common Sense and Great Intelligence. Thank you for your attention to this matter!"

"I am pleased to announce the Governments of India and Pakistan have agreed to an immediate ceasefire and to start talks on a broad set of issues at a neutral site," he continued. "We commend Prime Ministers Modi and Sharif on their wisdom, prudence, and statesmanship in choosing the path of peace."