The US Secretary of Defence, Pete Hegseth, spoke to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh today and expressed his deepest sympathies for the tragic loss of lives in the terror attack in Pahalgam. Secretary Hegseth said that the US stands in solidarity with India and supports India’s right to defend itself. He reiterated the strong support of the US for India’s fight against terrorism.

During the conversation, the defence minister told Mr Hegseth that Pakistan has a history of supporting, training, and funding terrorist organisations. Mr Singh said Pakistan has been exposed as a rogue state, fuelling global terrorism and destabilising the region. He added that the world can no longer turn a blind eye to terrorism. He said it is important for the global community to explicitly and unequivocally condemn and call out such heinous acts of terrorism.