US Listing TRF As Global Terrorist Outfit Welcomed

New Delhi: "Timely and important", India on Friday welcomed the United States' decision to designate The Resistance Front (TRF) as a "foreign terrorist organisation (FTO) and specially designated global terrorist (SDGT)." Dubbing it an action to “enforce US President Donald Trump’s call for justice for the Pahalgam attack", India said that the designation of TRF, a proxy of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT), as a terror group is a “strong affirmation of India-US counter-terrorism cooperation”.

The United States on Friday (IST) designated TRF as a terrorist group. The US move comes as a huge diplomatic success for India and a severe setback for Pakistan and its cross-border terror mechanism. India welcomed the US decision and praised the leadership in this regard of US secretary of state Marco Rubio, who handles foreign policy in the Trump administration.

External affairs minister S. Jaishankar appreciated the US action and termed it a “strong affirmation of India-US counter-terrorism cooperation”.

The US said that the department of state is adding TRF as a designated foreign terrorist organisation and a specially designated global terrorist.  "TRF, a LeT front and proxy, claimed responsibility for the April 22, 2025, Pahalgam attack which killed 26 civilians. This was the deadliest attack on civilians in India since the 2008 Mumbai attacks conducted by LeT. TRF has also claimed responsibility for several attacks against Indian security forces, including most recently in 2024.”

“These actions taken by the department of state demonstrate the Trump administration’s commitment to protecting our national security interests, countering terrorism and enforcing Mr Trump’s call for justice for the Pahalgam attack… The department of state has also reviewed and maintained the FTO designation of LeT…” the US said.

In its reaction, New Delhi said that the government of India welcomes the decision of the United States department of state to designate TRF as a terrorist group. "We acknowledge and appreciate the leadership of secretary of state Marco Rubio in this regard...” it said.

“India has consistently emphasised the need for global cooperation in the fight against terrorism and the dismantling of terror infrastructure. The designation of TRF is a timely and important step reflecting the deep cooperation between India and the United States on counter-terrorism. India remains committed to a policy of zero tolerance towards terrorism and will continue to work closely with its international partners to ensure that terrorist organisations and their proxies are held accountable,” New Delhi added.

The foreign minister posted on X, “A strong affirmation of India-US counter-terrorism cooperation. Appreciate US secretary of state Marco Rubio and the US state department for designating TRF — a Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT) proxy — as a foreign terrorist organisation (FTO) and specially designated global terrorist (SDGT). It claimed responsibility for the April 22 Pahalgam attack. Zero tolerance for Terrorism. #OpSindoor.”

Earlier, in May this year, an Indian official technical team had visited the UN headquarters in New York to apprise the United Nations 1267 sanctions committee of the involvement of the TRF in carrying out the Pahalgam massacre and to get the TRF banned by the UN as a terror group.

Just days after the Pahalgam attack, Pakistan deputy PM and foreign minister Ishaq Dar openly claimed credit in his country’s National Assembly for shielding the TRF that had initially claimed responsibility for the heinous Pahalgam massacre of tourists and boasted that Islamabad got the reference to both the TRF and Pahalgam dropped from a UN Security Council (UNSC) resolution that condemned the terror attack.

Eyebrows were raised in April when there was no reference in the UNSC statement to TRF in stark contrast to the UNSC statement issued after the Pulwama terror attack in February 2019, which had named Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammmed (JeM)