There are moments in the history of the free world when clarity cuts through the fog of diplomacy. The recent terrorist attack on innocent tourists in Kashmir—one of the worst in years—was such a moment. India mourns. The world watches. And once again, Pakistan issues threats thinly veiled as warnings: if India dares to respond within the next 36 hours, there will be consequences.
Let’s call this for what it is: an act of terror followed by diplomatic gaslighting.
India, the world’s most populous democracy and one of America’s most important allies in Asia, is under attack—yet again—by forces operating in or with the support of Pakistan. This is not conjecture. This is a pattern. For decades, Pakistan has played both arsonist and firefighter on the global stage—sheltering extremists with one hand and accepting international aid with the other.
But this moment demands more than just another sternly worded statement from the U.S. State Department. It demands American clarity, resolve, and moral courage. The United States must stand firmly, publicly, and unequivocally with India.
India: A Partner in Peace, Progress, and Principles
India and the United States are bound not only by shared interests, but by shared values: democracy, rule of law, freedom of speech, and pluralism. In a region dominated by authoritarian regimes and state-sponsored terror, India is the anchor of stability and decency.
For decades, India has shown remarkable restraint in the face of provocations that would have sparked wars in any other part of the world. From the 2008 Mumbai attacks to the 2016 Uri base assault, India has been forced to bury its dead while the international community issued empty condolences and looked away from the source: the terror-industrial complex operating within Pakistani borders.
But this time feels different. The death of tourists—civilians, not soldiers—is not just an attack on India; it’s an attack on the idea that safety and sovereignty mean anything in South Asia anymore. If left unanswered, it sets a precedent no democracy can accept.
Pakistan’s Pattern of Provocation
Let’s be honest about Pakistan. This is a country whose intelligence services have long flirted with—if not outright backed—extremist groups, from Lashkar-e-Taiba to Jaish-e-Mohammed. These aren’t neighborhood gangs. They are internationally recognized terrorist organizations. Pakistan’s military and intelligence elite have fostered these groups not in spite of their destabilizing effect, but because of it. It’s strategic ambiguity at its most cynical.
And whenever India retaliates—or even dares to signal its intent—Pakistan rushes to the nearest microphone to cry foul, to threaten nuclear escalation, to play the victim.
The United States and the broader international community must stop treating Pakistan as an errant child who simply doesn’t know better. Pakistan knows exactly what it’s doing. It uses plausible deniability as a weapon, then expects global leniency in return.
Strategic Interests Align: Why America Must Choose
This is not just about sentiment. It’s about strategic clarity. The United States is in the midst of a global realignment. China is rising, Russia is belligerent, and the post-Cold War order is under siege. In this environment, India is not just an ally of convenience—it is an indispensable partner.
India is a bulwark against Chinese expansion in the Indo-Pacific. It is a technological powerhouse, an economic engine, and a democratic counterweight in a region tilting toward authoritarianism. The U.S.-India relationship isn’t transactional—it’s transformational. But only if we treat it that way.
Turning a blind eye to terrorism in Kashmir would be a betrayal of American values and American interests. Doing so to appease Pakistan—an increasingly unstable state with a fragile democracy and a military that thinks in 1971 terms—would be a strategic blunder of the highest order.
Standing with India Is Standing for Civilization
Let’s not mince words. The choice before the United States is between a democracy that seeks justice and a regime that exports instability. Between a country mourning its dead and one that harbors the murderers. Between civilization and those who seek to unravel it.
President Biden, Secretary Blinken, and leaders across both parties must send a clear message: the United States stands with India—not just in grief, but in purpose. If India takes military action in self-defense, it will not be condemned—it will be understood. If Pakistan retaliates with escalation, it must be held accountable by the full weight of international law and diplomacy.
This is not 1999. This is not 2001. The world has changed, and so must our alliances.
Final Word
To our friends in India: You do not stand alone. Your pain is real, your patience has been heroic, and your pursuit of justice is righteous.
To those in Washington still clinging to the illusion that Pakistan can be a partner in peace: The time for fantasy is over. The only path to peace in South Asia begins with holding accountable those who perpetrate and protect terror—not those who bury its victims.
The world’s oldest democracy must stand with the world’s largest. And if that upsets the balance of “diplomatic neutrality,” so be it. Peace without principle is appeasement.
And history is littered with the cost of that mistake.
Direct Line News is a Maryland-based free-access publication committed to the Republican reform tradition.
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