On August 11, the U.S. State Department announced that the Balochistan Liberation Army and its armed wing, the Majeed Brigade, were being designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations. The decision upgraded their 2019 Specially Designated Global Terrorist status. The Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) tag adds heavier legal penalties and stricter financial sanctions.
The timing is no coincidence; it came within days of Pakistan’s Army Chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, delivering an inflammatory speech from U.S. soil, threatening that Pakistan would “take half the world down” in a nuclear exchange if pushed and that they would blow up Dams once constructed.
Instead of condemning such reckless rhetoric, Washington handed Munir a diplomatic win. The move recalls an older, more dangerous American pattern, balancing India and Pakistan as equals, a parity India has worked for a decade to dismantle.
The Baloch Context Pakistan Hides
For decades, Pakistan’s military has plundered Balochistan’s vast mineral wealth while leaving its people in grinding poverty. Basic infrastructure, schools, and hospitals remain neglected, while the region’s resources flow to Punjab. Worse, thousands of Baloch men have been abducted or killed in Pakistan’s notorious “forced disappearances,” prompting women-led protests on the streets of Quetta.
The Baloch struggle began as a demand for fair resource distribution and genuine development. Instead of listening, Islamabad unleashed brutal crackdowns, sparking armed resistance. Even in the high-profile Jaffar Express incident, eyewitnesses noted that women and children were spared, yet Pakistan’s narrative credited its army with a “rescue,” a story that was conveniently ignored.
Why This U.S. Shift Matters Now
This move comes against the backdrop of warming U.S.–Pakistan ties, Trump’s own family-linked business interests with Islamabad in the cryptocurrency sector, and a broader American willingness to sidestep Pakistan’s history of sheltering global terrorists like Osama bin Laden and Hafiz Saeed.
Notably, most of the Baloch armed groups’ high-profile actions have targeted Pakistani military installations or Chinese assets tied to the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). While Pakistan portrays these as attacks on “civilians,” the actual target profile tells a different story, one that may explain why Washington’s move is being read by some as pandering not just to Islamabad, but also to Beijing’s security interests in Balochistan.
A Warning for India
The shift suggests the U.S. could be sliding back to a Nixon-era mindset, where anti-India policy and indulgence of Pakistan’s military adventurism were default positions. This is a dangerous space, especially when Pakistan’s state apparatus continues to export terrorism across borders.
But 2025 is not 1971. India today is Atmanirbhar, militarily stronger, and diplomatically more assertive. The world saw that in Operation Sindoor, when India decisively responded to the Pahalgam massacre, downed multiple Pakistan Air Force jets, destroyed their Air defenses, destroyed multiple airbases, and much more. While also changing the policy that any future terror attack from Pakistan will be treated as an act of war.
The Path Ahead
Whatever Washington’s motives, be it strategic hedging, economic deals, or appeasing Pakistan, India’s position must remain clear:
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Support the Baloch people’s rights and dignity without endorsing violence.
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Reject false equivalence between Pakistan and India.
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Prepare for a U.S. foreign policy swing that could once again embolden Pakistan’s worst.
India’s message should be firm. No return to the era of indulgence for Pakistan’s terror state, and no compromise on national security.
