Shashi Tharoor-led group meets US V-P Vance, focus on cooperation in counter-terror
Seeking to rally support for India against Pakistan-sponsored terrorism, the multi-party political delegation led by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor met US Vice President J D Vance in Washington DC on Thursday and discussed 'cooperation in counter-terrorism domain'.
Vance was in India when the Pahalgam terror attack took place on April 22; he and his family had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi the previous day. He had later called up Modi to express condolences, after US President Donald Trump had called up the PM.
On May 9, Vance had called up Modi to share intelligence that Pakistan was preparing for a massive attack. So, he has been at the centre of the Trump administration's engagement with India, in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor launched on May 7, that led to four days of military confrontation between India and Pakistan.
'Excellent meeting with Vice President @JDVance today in Washington DC with our delegation… We had comprehensive discussions covering a wide array of critical issues, from counter-terrorism efforts to enhancing technological cooperation. A truly constructive & productive exchange for strengthening India-US strategic partnership, with a great meeting of minds,' Tharoor said in a post on X.
In a post on X, the Indian Embassy in the US said the Tharoor-led delegation called on Vance in the morning, and the 'conversation focused on strengthening the India-US partnership including cooperation in counter-terrorism domain'.
India's former Ambassador to the US, Taranjit Sandhu, who is also part of the delegation, said they had 'an excellent, comprehensive, constructive & productive interaction'.
The delegation travelled to Guyana, Panama, Colombia and Brazil before arriving in Washington for the final leg of the tour. The other members of the team are MPs Sarfaraz Ahmad, Ganti Harish Madhur Balayogi, Shashank Mani Tripathi, Bhubaneswar Kalita, Milind Deora and Tejasvi Surya.
The Indian precision strikes on Pakistani air bases early on May 10 came hours after Vance called up Modi and shared information about 'alarming intelligence' that there was a 'high probability for dramatic escalation if the conflict went into the weekend'.
The Indian establishment has been facing questions from the Congress-led Opposition on the US announcing the ceasefire.
On Wednesday, the Tharoor-led delegation met the leadership of the House Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans in the 119th Congress, the co-chairs Rep. Ro Khanna and Rep. Rich McCormick and the two vice co-chairs Rep. Andy Barr and Rep. Marc Veasey.
'The Congressmen expressed unequivocal and bipartisan condemnation for the terror attack in Pahalgam. They also expressed their support for India's right to respond to terrorism in the spirit of zero tolerance against terrorism. The Caucus members also hailed the strong strategic partnership between India and USA,' the Indian Embassy in the US said.
Thereafter, it said, the delegation met the leadership of the House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC) in a meeting hosted by Committee Chairman Rep. Brian Mast and Ranking Member Rep. Gregory Meeks. 'The interaction saw a constructive exchange of views on the developments relating to the attack in Pahalgam and India's stand on dealing with such attacks in the future. The Committee leadership condemned the Pahalgam attack unequivocally,' it said.
In a separate interaction, it said, the members also met Rep. Lisa McClain, Chairwoman of the House Republican Conference — the highest-ranking woman in Congress.
Shubhajit Roy, Diplomatic Editor at The Indian Express, has been a journalist for more than 25 years now. Roy joined The Indian Express in October 2003 and has been reporting on foreign affairs for more than 17 years now. Based in Delhi, he has also led the National government and political bureau at The Indian Express in Delhi — a team of reporters who cover the national government and politics for the newspaper. He has got the Ramnath Goenka Journalism award for Excellence in Journalism '2016. He got this award for his coverage of the Holey Bakery attack in Dhaka and its aftermath. He also got the IIMCAA Award for the Journalist of the Year, 2022, (Jury's special mention) for his coverage of the fall of Kabul in August 2021 — he was one of the few Indian journalists in Kabul and the only mainstream newspaper to have covered the Taliban's capture of power in mid-August, 2021. ... Read More
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