Jammu and Kashmir is an 'important part of India': US envoy Sergio Gor in first visit to UT after Pahalgam attack
This strong endorsement came after he met J&K CM Omar Abdullah in his first visit to the country since the abrogation of Article 370 and the more recent Pahalgam attack of April 2025
US Ambassador to India, Sergio Gor, on Wednesday made his first visit to Jammu and Kashmir, declaring that the Union Territory (UT) was "an important part of India". This strong endorsement came after he met J&K CM Omar Abdullah in his first visit to the country since the abrogation of Article 370
US Ambassador to India, Sergio Gor, on Wednesday made his first visit to Jammu and Kashmir, declaring that the Union Territory (UT) was "an important part of India". This strong endorsement came after he met J&K CM Omar Abdullah in his first visit to the country since the abrogation of Article 370
US Ambassador to India, Sergio Gor, on Wednesday made his first visit to Jammu and Kashmir, declaring that the Union Territory (UT) was "an important part of India". This strong endorsement came after he met J&K CM Omar Abdullah in his first visit to the country since the abrogation of Article 370
US Ambassador to India, Sergio Gor, on Wednesday made his first visit to Jammu and Kashmir, declaring that the Union Territory (UT) was "an important part of India".
This strong endorsement came after he met J&K CM Omar Abdullah in a US official's first visit to the UT since the abrogation of Article 370 and the more recent Pahalgam attack of April 2025.
"We discussed ways to deepen economic collaboration and create opportunities that would mutually benefit both of our nations," he wrote in an X post.
Notably, CM Abdullah had earlier indicated that the meeting would have no impact on J&K's problems, especially its demand for statehood.
Gor also indicated that the US might consider downgrading its strict Level 4 "do not travel" advisory for most of the UT, except eastern Ladakh and Leh.
"We will be looking at whether the travel warning that is imposed, which is recommended by the United States, is something that should be downgraded ... have made some incredible steps to keeping this area safer and making it more safe," Gor added.
Gor’s comments came after former CM and People’s Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti had earlier appealed to the US envoy to review and withdraw the highest-level travel advisory for Americans visiting Kashmir.
“For Kashmir, where thousands of families depend on tourism, the travel advisory on Kashmir is more than a warning, it is a wall between Kashmir and the world,” Mufti had said in a post on X.
Notably, the Wednesday visit is also Gor's first visit to the UT since taking charge as the US ambassador to India and President Donald Trump’s Special Envoy for South and Central Asia.
The Pahalgam attack, and its aftermath, had caused friction between India and the US, with Trump asserting that he had played a key role in negotiating the end of the hostilities between India and Pakistan—a viewpoint that New Delhi has rejected multiple times in the months that followed.