Former US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that the United States should respect India’s right to defend itself against attacks and maintain a firm policy against terrorism. His remarks came during a conversation with Jawed Ashraf, chairman of the India Trade Promotion Organisation, at a summit in New Delhi on Saturday, 14 November 2026.
Blinken described the United States’ relationship with India and its relationship with Pakistan as fundamentally different. He characterised India as a global force and said that ties between Washington and New Delhi were built around a broad set of shared interests. By contrast, he described the US-Pakistan relationship as regional, while noting that cooperation with Islamabad remained relevant in areas including counter-terrorism.
“We have to have a zero-tolerance policy for terrorism. Period. And that means that we have to have respect for India's right to defend itself,” former US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.
He said the US approach should involve support for India’s efforts to respond to attacks alongside diplomatic engagement intended to prevent tensions between New Delhi and Islamabad from widening. Blinken linked the importance of such diplomacy to the fact that India and Pakistan are nuclear-armed neighbours and that a military confrontation between them could have destructive consequences.
A different framework for Washington’s ties
In discussing the development of India-US relations, Blinken said the two countries had moved from estrangement to what he called a genuine and distinctive partnership. He attributed the relationship to converging strategic interests as well as strong connections between the people of the two countries.
His comments also addressed Washington’s previous engagement with Islamabad. Blinken said US strategic priorities during the Cold War and the war in Afghanistan may have resulted in successive administrations being less critical of Pakistan’s civil-military establishment. He added that the United States had an opportunity to do more.
- India: Blinken said Washington should recognise New Delhi’s right to defend itself against attacks.
- Counter-terrorism: He said cooperation with Pakistan remained important in this area, while calling for zero tolerance towards terrorism.
- Escalation control: He said support for India should be accompanied by diplomatic efforts to prevent a broader conflict between India and Pakistan.
The remarks place counter-terrorism and crisis management together in the US approach described by Blinken. They also indicate his view that Washington’s engagement with India extends across global strategic interests, whereas its engagement with Pakistan remains more narrowly focused, including on counter-terrorism.
Blinken’s comments were made as a former US Secretary of State and were presented as his assessment of the direction Washington should take. They do not constitute a new announcement by the current US administration, but they address issues central to India’s security relationship with the United States: terrorism, India’s response to attacks and the management of risks between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
