Why Modi-Trump statement has raised Pakistan’s hackles

The joint statement of PM Modi and President Donald Trump on February 14, 2025, is the strongest Indo-US declaration against terrorism in recent years. It mentions strengthening Indo-US cooperation on terrorism “against threats from groups, including Al-Qaeda, ISIS, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, to prevent heinous acts like the attacks in Mumbai on 26/11 and the Abbey Gate bombing in Afghanistan on August 26, 2021.”

It highlights the US government’s approval of Tahawwur Rana’s extradition to India as an example of the commitment of both governments to bring the perpetrators to justice. It then puts Pakistan squarely on the mat with this key sentence: “The leaders further called on Pakistan to expeditiously bring to justice the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai and Pathankot attacks and ensure that its territory is not used to carry out cross-border terrorist attacks.”

In the past, the only joint statement between US President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Narendra Modi which mentioned terrorism emanating from Pakistan was on June 22, 2023. Their meetings on September 8, 2023, and September 22, 2024, did not refer to terrorism at all.

On June 22, 2023, both leaders “strongly condemned cross-border terrorism, the use of terrorist proxies and called on Pakistan to take immediate action to ensure that no territory under its control is used for launching terrorist attacks”. They “reiterated the call for concerted action against all UN-listed terrorist groups including Al-Qaeda, ISIS/Daesh, LeT, JeM and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen.”

Pakistan reacted sharply to the Modi-Trump declaration and called it “one-sided, misleading and contrary to diplomatic norms” since it ignored “Pakistan’s counterterrorism cooperation with the US.” It added that this statement cannot “cover up India’s sponsorship of terrorism, subversion and extra-judicial assassinations in the region and beyond.” It gave a further punch in labelling “India as a safe haven of the perpetrators of hate crimes against Muslims and other minorities.”

Why did Pakistan react so aggressively? My assessment is that Islamabad might have feared that a global impression might arise that the Trump administration is now blaming Pakistan for allegedly enabling the 2021 Kabul airport bombing too, which had killed 13 US service members and 170 Afghan civilians.

The reason for this unprecedented vitriol against India and anger against the US for “violating diplomatic norms” by ignoring Pakistan’s cooperation with the US on terrorism might have been the reason for challenging the Trump-Modi statement.

This, in turn, leads to a question: Why the 2021 Abbey Gate bombing (Afghan airport), which was in no way related to India, was included in this bilateral joint statement?

Two explanations are possible: one, the White House also wanted to convey its deep anguish, like how India had felt at the 26/11 attack. Second, more possible, was to blame the Biden administration for not taking adequate care of US troops during the hurried evacuation on August 28, 2021.

The second impression arises as Trump himself answered a loaded question, originally put to our PM at the White House press meet, on the so-called “inefficient” Biden administration.

Also, the 118th US Congress (previous) was very agitated at the Abbey Gate bombing, which was the largest single loss of lives of US military personnel since 2011. They were particularly upset that this had occurred despite advance intelligence warnings on August 16 on the strong possibility of an ISIS suicide bombing. Despite this, Abdul Rahman Al-Logari, an ISIS-K member who was known to the CIA and kept in coalition custody, could become the suicide bomber wearing a 25-pound suicide vest.

The New York Times ( January 1, 2022) said that the CIA had located Al-Logari in India in 2017, planning suicide attacks, and had taken him into custody at the Bagram base near Kabul after secretly liaising with the Indian agencies. However, he, along with thousands, was released by the Taliban when it took over Kabul on August 15, 2021. This was originally reported by the ISIS mouthpiece, Amaq, on September 19, 2021.

The reason why the Modi-Trump statement included the 2021 Abbey Gate bombing might have been on the initiative of Mike Waltz, US National Security Adviser, as he had challenged the Pentagon conclusions on August 5, 2024, on the attack, while he was a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee in the previous Congress.

In a letter to the then US Secretary of Defence, Loyd Austin, the committee had pointed out the apparent discrepancies between the newly reported footage of the Abbey Gate attack, as shown on CNN, and the conclusions of two US Central Command (CENTCOM) investigations into the bombing, which the latter had presented to the committee in April 2024. However, the US Army Central Command defended their stand, saying that a review investigation since September 2023 had found that “the attack could not have been preventable at the tactical level.”

In this scenario, the Trump administration’s permission on Tahawwur Rana’s extradition after the US Supreme Court verdict assumes only symbolic importance when compared to the general spectre of terrorism facing us.

As regards Rana, we faced initial judicial setback in our pursuit since 2009 after his arrest in Chicago as the court did not accept our evidence on his involvement in the 26/11 case although he was convicted for aiding the Lashkar's activities, specifically for plotting an attack in Denmark.

Since then, our agencies have been pursuing the case vigorously in US courts. The latest information is that this extradition might be delayed as Rana has appealed and filed a “mercy” petition.

At the same time, no US government could help us by putting pressure on Pakistan to extradite the other known 26/11 plotters and current perpetrators given sanctuary there.

We have other problems on the terrorism front which we alone must tackle. The change of government in Bangladesh and the reported visit of a Pakistani ISI delegation to Dhaka on January 21 adds a new dimension, with terrorism emanating from our east, which is already under strain due to the Manipur turbulence.

Views are personal