The US State Department added the Resistance Front to its list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorist entities on July 17. The Resistance Front, a cover organization of the Pakistan-supported and Al Qaeda-allied Lashkar-e-Taiba terror group, claimed credit for the April 22 attack in the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir that killed 26 tourists, as well as other attacks inside India.
The State Department described the Resistance Front (TRF) as “a Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT) front and proxy.”
“These actions taken by the Department of State demonstrate the Trump Administration’s commitment to protecting our national security interests, countering terrorism, and enforcing President Trump’s call for justice for the Pahalgam attack,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement released by the State Department.
The Indian government hailed the US designation of the Resistance Front.
“India has consistently emphasized the need for global cooperation in the fight against terrorism and the dismantling of terror infrastructure. The designation of TRF is a timely and important step reflecting the deep cooperation between India and the United States on counter-terrorism,” the Indian Ministry of External Affairs said in an official statement.
TRF’s April 22 attack in Pahalgam nearly sparked a full-scale war between India and Pakistan, the latter of which hosts and supports LeT. The two countries exchanged fire for several days before agreeing to a ceasefire.
LeT has launched a number of terror attacks in India and Afghanistan over the years, including the December 13, 2001, assault on India’s Parliament House in New Delhi, the November 26, 2008, suicide assaults in Mumbai, and the attack on the Indian Consulate in Herat, Afghanistan, on May 23, 2014.
A front for Laskhar-e-Taiba
The Resistance Front is an “offshoot of Lashkar-e-Taiba” that was formed in August 2019 after India removed the special autonomous status of Jammu and Kashmir and began directly governing the region, according to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, which tracks terror groups in the region. Three of the group’s leaders—Sajid Jatt, Sajjad Gul, and Salim Rehmani—are “associated with” LeT.
LeT is known to use front groups to cover its activities in India. An organization known as the Indian Mujahideen, also a US-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, serves as a front for both LeT and the allied Harakat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami. LeT has established other fronts, such as Jamaat-ud-Dawa, the Milli Muslim League, and Tehreek-e-Azadi-e Kashmir, to support its terror activities in India.
LeT was founded in 1987 by Hafiz Saeed, its current leader, along with Al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden and Abdullah Azzam, who is considered the godfather of international jihad. Bin Laden helped LeT establish training camps in Afghanistan’s provinces of Kunar and Paktia. LeT shares Al Qaeda’s goal of establishing an Islamic state in South Asia and beyond.
LeT is listed by the US as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, and its founder and leader, Hafiz Saeed, is listed by the US as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.
