Quad Ministers Decry Pahalgam Attack, Launch Critical Minerals Initiative

Foreign ministers of the Quad—U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, India’s Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Australia’s Penny Wong and Japan’s Takeshi Iwaya—met in Washington this week and issued a joint statement condemning the 22 April terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Jammu & Kashmir, that killed 26 people. The ministers called for the perpetrators, organisers and financiers to be brought to justice “without delay” and urged all United Nations members to cooperate with relevant authorities.

The communiqué reaffirmed the Quad’s “unequivocal opposition” to all forms of terrorism, including cross-border attacks. Jaishankar told reporters that “victims and perpetrators must never be equated” and said India “has every right to defend its people” against terrorism—remarks he expects Quad partners to understand and support.

Beyond counter-terrorism, the meeting produced new economic and security initiatives. The four countries launched a “Quad Critical Minerals Initiative” aimed at securing and diversifying supply chains for rare earths and other strategic resources to curb dependence on any single supplier, a veiled reference to China’s market dominance. They also announced plans for a “Ports of the Future” partnership to be inaugurated in Mumbai later this year and reiterated opposition to unilateral moves that could change the status quo in the East and South China Seas.