Reaffirming their deep strategic partnership for advancing security and prosperity for the two countries, India and the United States are in discussion to take further steps, including through information sharing, to disrupt the ability of terrorists to travel internationally.
The two sides reiterated that terrorism remains a serious threat to international peace and security during the 19th meeting of the India-USA Counter Terrorism Joint Working Group and the 5th session of the India-USA Designations Dialogue which concluded in New Delhi on Tuesday.
Mahaveer Singhvi, Joint Secretary for Counter Terrorism, Ministry of External Affairs of India, and Timothy Betts, US State Department’s Acting Coordinator for Counter Terrorism, led their respective inter-agency/inter-departmental delegations during the talks.
As reported by IndiaNarrative.com last week, New Delhi and Washington, besides strongly condemning the use of terrorist proxies, cross-border terrorism and all forms of international terrorism, also called for the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai and Pathankot attacks to be brought to justice.
They exchanged views on the threats posed by UN designated terrorist entities and emphasized the need for concerted action against terrorist networks, including Al-Qa’ida, ISIS/Daesh, Lashkar e-Tayyiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and Al Badr.
Both sides also called on all countries to take immediate, sustained, and irreversible action to ensure that no territory under their control is used for terrorist attacks.
“They shared information about their priorities and procedures for pursuing designations against terrorist groups and individuals,” stated a joint press statement issued after the two-day discussions.
The participants deliberated pressing counter terrorism challenges, including countering terrorist financing, preventing and countering radicalization, use of the internet for terrorist purposes, narco-trafficking and its linkages to terrorism and use of new and emerging technologies such as Unmanned Aerial Systems, Virtual Assets, and the Dark Web for terrorist purposes.
They also discussed mutual legal and extradition assistance, law enforcement training, and capacity building cooperation.
The United States appreciated the leadership of India in global efforts to counter terrorism and the recent initiative of hosting a special meeting of the UNSC Counter Terrorism Committee. The US also welcomed the Delhi Declaration which deliberated upon the use of new and emerging technologies for terrorist purposes.
The two sides also discussed counter terrorism cooperation at multilateral fora such as the UN, GCTF, FATF and Quad.
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