Pahalgam terror attack: ‘Hope Pakistan cooperates with India to make sure terrorists hunted down’, says US Vice President J D Vance

“Our hope here is that India responds to this terrorist attack in a way that it doesn’t lead to a broader regional conflict. And we hope that Pakistan, to the extent that they are responsible, cooperates with India to make sure that the terrorists sometimes operating in their territory are hunted down and dealt with. That’s how we hope this unfolds,” he said.

His remarks come in the wake of the April 21 attack in the Baisaran meadow in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam, where terrorists gunned down 26 civilians. In response, India initiated a series of diplomatic measures against Pakistan, including the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty, the suspension of visas for Pakistani nationals and the closure of its airspace to Pakistani aircraft, among others.

Vance’s statements are in line with those of the US State Department. On Thursday, the department stated that the US stands strong with India against terrorism and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi “has our full support”. State Secretary Marco Rubio has urged both India and Pakistan to “work toward a …responsible resolution that maintains long-term peace and regional stability in South Asia,” it said.

In a call with Rubio on Wednesday, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had underlined that the “perpetrators, backers and planners” of the Pahalgam attack “must be brought to justice”.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, meanwhile, explicitly named Pakistan during a call with US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday. “Pakistan has a history of supporting, training and funding terrorist organisations,” Singh told Hegseth.

In response, Hegseth is reported to have expressed Washington’s support towards “India’s right to defend itself.”

Vance was in India at the time of the attack and had dialed up PM Modi to express his condolences. In fact, US President Donald Trump was among the first leaders to call up PM Modi.

Reacting to the attack earlier, Trump had told reporters: “I am very close to India and I’m very close to Pakistan, as you know. And they’ve had that fight for 1,000 years in Kashmir. Kashmir has been going on for 1,000 years, probably longer than that. And it was a bad one yesterday, though, that was a bad one.”

There have been “tensions on that border for 1,500 years. So you know, the same as it’s been, but they’ll get it figured out one way or the other. I’m sure… I know both leaders. There is great tension between Pakistan and India. But there always has been”, he said.