India's outreach to US in focus after strikes in Pakistan
US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed the hope that India-Pakistan tensions would not escalate further after India launched precision strikes on several targets in Pakistan on early Wednesday. In the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack, America has expressed solidarity with India and has held high level interactions with New Delhi. However, it has been unwilling to directly call out Pakistan for sponsoring cross-border terrorism.
President Trump's statements over the last few weeks indicate that the administration wishes to remain neutral as India-Pakistan tensions escalate. Trump had stated that India and Pakistan had been fighting over Kashmir 'for centuries' and that the two nations would 'figure it out one way or another'.
Some experts believe that Trump's neutrality works well for India.
'There was never an expectation that America would 100% support India's position and directly condemn Pakistan. India's diplomatic efforts were geared towards getting America to understand our position. America needs to publicly toe the diplomatic line of needing to see proof that Pakistan is linked to these terror attacks. India understands that,' said Prerna Bountra, deputy director at the Ananta Aspen Centre, a New Delhi-based think tank. 'We know the choices America has made in the past regarding its partnership with Pakistan. So neutrality is a step in the direction of India.'
Experts have argued that the Trump administration is keen to see India and Pakistan contain escalation at a time when Washington is engaged in nuclear talks with Iran, a difficult peace process in Ukraine and an ongoing conflict in West Asia. This was the position Rubio took when he spoke to the National Security Advisers of both India and Pakistan.
'Earlier this afternoon, @SecRubio spoke to the national security advisers from India and Pakistan. He urged both to keep lines of communication open and avoid escalation,' the US State Department said on X.
For its part, India has made America the prime focus of its global diplomatic efforts as it battles to swing international opinion around to New Delhi's viewpoint. Prime Minister Modi spoke with President Donald Trump over the phone immediately after the Pahalgam attack. The American leader expressed solidarity with India and his condolences for the victims of the terror attack.
In the days after the attack, several senior figures in the Trump administration — including Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and FBI Director Kash Patel — issued statements expressing solidarity with India.
US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth also spoke with Indian defence minister Rajnath Singh and expressed support for India's fight against terrorism last week.
Despite this, the US has not directly called out Pakistan for sponsoring the Pahalgam terror attack. Rubio urged Islamabad to cooperate fully in an investigation into the attack.
Analysts believe this reflects the Trump administration's other global priorities and not Washington's view of its partnership with India.
'The larger Indian outreach to the Trump administration remains intact. Now, if you go back to the Modi-Trump joint statement in February, there was no mention of Pakistan. In a sense, India has also downplayed Pakistan as a factor in its outreach to America and America has also looked at India through a different lens. So I don't think this particular episode reflects in any way on the India-US partnership,' said Harsh Pant, Vice President, Studies at the Observer Research Foundation, a New Delhi-based think tank.
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