.jpg?rect=0%2C0%2C1024%2C576&w=480&auto=format%2Ccompress&fit=max)
NEW YORK: Vice President JD Vance has said that US hopes that India will respond to the Pahalgam terrorist attack in a way that does not lead to a "broader regional conflict" and expects Pakistan to "cooperate" with New Delhi to "hunt down" militants sometimes operating from their soil.
Vance made these remarks on Thursday in an interview with Fox News. Vance and his family were in India on a four-day visit when the attack - the worst since the Pulwama strike in 2019 - took place.
"Our hope here is that India responds to this terrorist attack in a way that doesn't lead to a broader regional conflict," Vance said on Fox News's 'Special Report'.
After being asked, "You worried about India and Pakistan?"
"Well, sure, I'm worried about any time you see a hot spot breaking out, especially between two nuclear powers," Vance said.
"We've obviously been in close contact with our friends in India and Pakistan. Our hope here is that India responds to this terrorist attack in a way that does not lead to a broader regional conflict," the Vice-President said.
"And we hope, frankly, that Pakistan, to the extent that they're responsible, cooperates with India to make sure that the terrorists sometimes operating in their territory are hunted down and dealt with. That's how we hope this unfolds, we're obviously in close contact. We'll see what happens," Vance said.
Remarks by Vance assume significance amid rising tensions between India and Pakistan in the aftermath of the Pahalgam attack, in which 26 people were killed.
Vance, who was in India last month, had then condemned the attack and expressed solidarity with the victims and their families in a post on X.
The Pahalgam terror attack on April 22, which claimed 26 lives, drew swift and widespread condemnation from global leaders, who expressed solidarity with India and denounced terrorism.
The Resistance Front (TRF), a proxy of the banned Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), claimed responsibility for the attack.
Following the Pahalgam attack, the deadliest in the Valley since the Pulwama strike in 2019, India downgraded diplomatic ties with Pakistan and announced a raft of measures, including suspension of the Indus Water Treaty of 1960 and immediate shutting down of the Attari land-transit post.
