The US and India will ramp up cooperation on sharing intelligence inputs on activities of the terror outfits operating in Pakistan and Afghanistan. “During the bilateral meeting in Melbourne last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken assured External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar said that the American intelligence agency through its network existing in the region will be sharing with India more detailed information on terror activities and terror camps in the AfPak region,” sources told The Daily Guardian.
“The issue of terror outfits operating in this region came up when the EAM highlighted the concern over the threat of cross-border terrorism from Pakistan and Afghanistan and also over the links of Pakistani spy agency ISI with terror groups in Afghanistan such as Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Tayyaba,” sources said. “Both the US and India stressed the need to keep a much closer watch over the developments in the region, particularly in view of the recent intelligence inputs suggesting Pakistan’s growing links with various terrorist groups’ operation in Afghanistan,” sources said.
According to sources, Washington and Delhi will have more detailed discussions on this issue when EAM Jaishankar visits the US to meet Secretary Blinken in Washington for a “2+2” dialogue which has been delayed since November. India-US Defence Ministers will also be holding talks in this format. Both the Indian ministers will be going to Washington soon. A date is being finalised for the same. A source at MEA told The Daily Guardian that EAM Jaishankar will also meet American intelligence agency CIA officials in Washington. Similarly, the Defence Minister will also meet key officials working in the spy wing of the American military. These meetings will be crucial from the point of view of the growing menace of terrorism from Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Last week, the Quad Foreign Ministers’ meeting had also taken a strong note of the growing activities of terrorism in both countries. The Quad FMs also called for justice for the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai (2008) and the Pathankot airbase attack (2016) in what was seen as India’s diplomatic triumph. “We call on all countries to ensure that territory under their control is not used to launch terror attacks and to expeditiously bring to justice the perpetrators of such attacks,” the Foreign Ministers said in a strong message to Pakistan. Sources said, all the Quad Foreign Ministers vowed to “coordinate positions to counter cross-border terror from Afghan territory and redouble efforts to help India to counter terrorism emanating from its neighbourhood.”