The United States on Thursday designated The Resistance Front (TRF), the group responsible for April’s deadly Pahalgam attack, as a foreign terrorist organisation, drawing immediate praise from India which termed it an indication of strong bilateral counter-terrorism cooperation.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that TRF—a front for Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)—would be designated as both a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) and Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT), facing financial sanctions restricting its access to support from individuals and entities under American jurisdiction.
The designation comes nearly three months after TRF claimed responsibility for the April 22 Pahalgam attack that killed 26 civilians—the deadliest assault on civilians in India since LeT’s 2008 Mumbai attacks.
“TRF, a Lashkar-e-Taiba front and proxy, claimed responsibility for the April 22, 2025, Pahalgam attack which killed 26 civilians,” the State Department said. “TRF has also claimed responsibility for several attacks against Indian security forces, including most recently in 2024.”
External affairs minister S Jaishankar welcomed the move on social media, calling it a “strong affirmation of India-US counter-terrorism cooperation” and declaring “Zero tolerance for Terrorism”.
The external affairs ministry, in a readout, described the designation as a “timely and important step reflecting the deep cooperation between India and the US on counter-terrorism” whilst emphasising India’s call for global cooperation in dismantling terror infrastructure.
{{/usCountry}}The external affairs ministry, in a readout, described the designation as a “timely and important step reflecting the deep cooperation between India and the US on counter-terrorism” whilst emphasising India’s call for global cooperation in dismantling terror infrastructure.
{{/usCountry}}TRF and its aliases—Kashmir Resistance Front and Kashmir Resistance—were added to LeT’s existing designation as a foreign terrorist organisation under the Immigration and Nationality Act and Executive Order 13224. The US also reviewed and maintained LeT’s terrorist designation.
Pakistan, however, questioned the designation on Friday, with its foreign ministry claiming that investigation into the Pahalgam attack remained “inconclusive”. Islamabad described LeT as a “defunct organisation banned in Pakistan” and positioned itself as a “counter terrorism bulwark”.
The pushback reflects Pakistan’s earlier efforts to distance itself from TRF. Days after the Pahalgam attack, Pakistani foreign minister Ishaq Dar revealed in parliament that Islamabad had successfully lobbied to remove TRF’s name from a UN Security Council statement issued on April 25 condemning the incident.
Dar claimed TRF was formed in response to India scrapping Jammu and Kashmir’s special status in August 2019, and said Pakistan had sought evidence of TRF’s involvement in the attack.
India had designated TRF as a terrorist organisation in January 2023 under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. According to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, TRF announced its existence on social media in 2019 and has since claimed responsibility for multiple attacks across Jammu and Kashmir, including a grenade attack in Srinagar that injured seven civilians and targeted killings in 2021.
New Delhi has repeatedly sought TRF’s international designation, providing inputs to the UN’s 1267 Sanctions Committee monitoring team in May and November 2024, and raising the matter previously in 2023.
Kabir Taneja, deputy director of Strategic Studies at the Observer Research Foundation, said the designation’s main benefit was putting the spotlight on TRF, which had operated as an “underbelly group” for years.
“Its design as a terror group is in its name—there are no religious connotations, no mention of Islam, but use of the word ‘resistance’. Pakistan’s support for it will make the word ‘resistance’ do the heavy lifting,” Taneja explained, drawing parallels with Hamas’s rebranding efforts.
He suggested the timing could balance Pakistani army chief Asim Munir’s recent Washington visit, representing a “low stakes endeavour” for the Trump administration while potentially forming part of broader US-India agreements on trade and tariffs.
The Trump administration framed the designation as demonstrating its “commitment to protecting our national security interests, countering terrorism, and enforcing President Trump’s call for justice for the Pahalgam attack”.
(With inputs from Rezaul H Laskar in New Delhi)