'QUAD didn't help; who can trust Americans after this treachery?': Russian expert says group failed India during Op Sindoor

Russia's leading geopolitical strategist Alexander Dugin has accused the United States of abandoning India during a moment of crisis and called the QUAD a failure. "QUAD didn't help India at all in the moment of the real trouble. US just advised to stop the conflict. What an ally!" Dugin said, reacting to how the grouping responded to India’s military operation against Pakistan-based terror groups during Operation Sindoor.

India launched Operation Sindoor after 26 civilians were killed in a terror attack in Pahalgam on April 22. The strikes targeted camps and infrastructure of Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed inside Pakistan. However, as India pressed ahead with its precision military response, the QUAD — comprising India, the US, Australia, and Japan — remained silent.

While US President Donald Trump boasted that his administration had “brokered a historic ceasefire,” he avoided naming Pakistan's role in sponsoring terrorism. Speaking at an investment forum in Riyadh, Trump said, "Let's not trade nuclear missiles. Let's trade the things that you make so beautifully… They both have very powerful leaders, very strong leaders, good leaders, smart leaders. And it all stopped."

That statement, and repeated claims that he prevented a nuclear war, triggered a wave of criticism in India. "The trust and strategic links built over years of painstaking efforts between India and USA have become strained,” wrote Sushant Sareen, senior fellow at Observer Research Foundation. "India no longer trusts the US...Who can trust the Americans after this treachery." 

Sareen said India will now be far more cautious in engaging with any future US-led security arrangements. "The body might still exist,” he noted of the QUAD, “but India will be wary, very wary of anything the Americans propose.” He also said that the US President, Vice President, and Secretary of State have effectively done what China wanted - "undermine QUAD".

The Indian expert also said that there is a sense of betrayal in India over the way the Americans have played the entire Operation Sindoor episode. "They emboldened a defeated Pakistan by giving them a fig leaf and face saver to claim that they have at least got US mediation. But it is clear there will be no such thing happening. Even so, the way these Americans played this has left the lingering sense of betrayal in India."

Abhishek Das, a geostrategy expert, added: “What China failed to achieve since long, Donald Trump has achieved that easily. He almost killed the QUAD.” Das speculated that Trump’s actions may have been intentional, accusing him of trying “to sell both India and QUAD to China for a good trade deal.”

A former Indian Army officer echoed this sentiment, stating that while QUAD was created to counter Chinese expansionism, the US response equated “a vibrant democracy like India with a military terrorist-ruled Pakistan.” He added, “Many Indians feel let down by talk of ‘trade and more trade’ by the US.”

Sadanand Dhume, fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, wrote: “At this point, Trump is randomly shelling a U.S.-India relationship built painstakingly by both countries over 25 years. We’ll have to await satellite images to assess the extent of the damage.”

While Trump praised his Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance for their roles in the ceasefire talks, India maintained that the decision to halt firing was a direct understanding between the two militaries — no third-party mediation was involved. "No third party was involved,” Indian officials clarified, reiterating that the Kashmir issue remains a strictly bilateral matter.