Overview

• The US State Department designated The Resistance Front as both a Foreign Terrorist Organization and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, triggering asset freezes, visa bans and criminal penalties for support under US law.
• The House Foreign Affairs Committee endorsed the listings, branding TRF a foreign terrorist outfit responsible for the April 22 Pahalgam massacre of 26 civilians and demanding justice for the victims.
• External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar welcomed the US action as a strong affirmation of Indo-US counterterror collaboration and India’s zero-tolerance policy toward terrorism.
• Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar rejected TRF’s illegality, revealing that Islamabad had intervened at the UN to delete mentions of the group from a Security Council statement and disputing its role in the Pahalgam attack.
• The Resistance Front first emerged in 2019 as a proxy of Lashkar-e-Taiba in North Kashmir, employing decentralized hybrid warfare tactics such as low-profile assaults, drone logistics and digital propaganda.