US Repeats De-escalation Playbook, But India Firm On Pahalgam Response: 'We'll Do Our Job'
Sources told CNN-News18 how the US is essentially doing a repeat of its strategy after the 2016 Uri attack and the 2019 Pulwama attack.
After the Pahalgam terror strike, the US is following the same drill with India and Pakistan as it did after the Uri and Pulwama terror strikes – which is backing India's 'limited counter-strike' on terrorism while urging no further escalation, saying India has a right to defend itself, urging for India-Pakistan direct communication, and telling Pakistan to act against terrorists on its soil.
'The US is doing its job, we will do ours," sources in the government told CNN-NEWS18, explaining how the US is essentially doing a repeat of its strategy after the 2016 Uri attack and the 2019 Pulwama attack. India had carried out surgical strikes in Pakistan after both the attacks.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah have promised the harshest response against the perpetrators and planners of the Pahalgam terror strikes. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, on Thursday, also named Pakistan for the first time for supporting, training, and funding terrorists.
Same Drill
After the Pulwama terror strike in 2019, US National Security Adviser John Bolton told his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval that America supports India's right to self-defence. On Thursday, US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth told Defence Minister Rajnath Singh the same – that the US supports India's right to defend itself.
US Vice President JD Vance on Thursday said he hoped that India responds to the Pahalgam terror attack in a way that does not lead to a broader regional conflict. It shows that US backs a 'limited strike' by India. This is like the US approach in 2019 when Mike Pompeo termed India's strike at Balakot as a 'counter-terrorism action" post Pulwama. Donald Trump, who was the US President in 2019 as well, had then said that he 'understood" why New Delhi was seeking a strong response to the Pulwama attack.
But the US wants India to not go further. In 2019, then US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo asked India and Pakistan to avoid further escalation at any cost, encouraging both countries to prioritise direct communication. This was the same message that the present US Secretary of Defence Marco Rubio gave to India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday.
In 2016, too, after the Uri attacks, the US Secretary of State John Kerry had two conversations with then Indian foreign minister Sushma Swaraj asking her not to escalate the situation with Pakistan.
The message to Pakistan has also followed a similar pattern.
For Pakistan, Vance had a clear message on Thursday when he said the US expects Pakistan to cooperate with India to ensure 'terrorists sometimes operating on their soil are hunted down and dealt with." This is also like 2019, when Pompeo underscored the urgency to Pakistan of taking 'meaningful action against terrorist groups operating on its soil."
The US in 2016 post Uri, 2019 post Pulwama, and now, has asked Pakistan to cooperate with India in probing the terror attack and urged for direct communication between both the countries. However, India has decided against this after its experience with Pakistan post the 2016 Pathankot airbase attack when it entertained a Pakistan probe team here but neither got a final report from them nor a response to the letter rogatory it had sent.
First Published:
May 02, 2025, 10:01 IST
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