The threat of terrorism from the territories under control of Pakistan and Afghanistan is likely to figure prominently during External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s meeting with his UAE counterpart Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi. Jaishankar will be co-chairing the 14th India-UAE Joint Commission Meeting (JCM) with his counterpart there. EAM is on a three-day visit to the United Arab Emirates from 31 August.
Sources told The Daily Guardian that Jaishankar will have an elaborate discussion on the issue of terrorism in view of the growing threat of the menace from Pakistan-Afghanistan region. India wants a stronger strategic alliance with UAE to fight against terrorism emanating from the AfPak region, sources add. Jaishankar’s upcoming interactions with his UAE counterpart will be significant from this point of view as well, say officials.
“These meetings will provide an opportunity to both the ministers to review the entire spectrum of comprehensive strategic partnership between India and UAE and regional and global developments,” said a statement from Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). The statement prominently signals that terrorism in the region of Pakistan and Afghanistan will also be discussed, say sources.
There have been regular high-level interactions between India and the UAE in 2022. Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid visit to Abu Dhabi on June 28 this year and met the UAE President. India seeks UAE cooperation in dealing with the challenge of terrorism from Afghanistan region, given Abu Dhabi’s influence over Taliban which will help build pressure on them to rein in terror from the territory under their control, sources said. Pakistan’s patronage to terror outfits is no secret as there is no dearth of evidence to prove it. What is worrisome is that Taliban has been unable to fulfil its commitments not to allow its soil to be used for terror activities.
What is being viewed as an important development is that hours ahead of Jaishankar’s visit to Abu Dhabi, India’s Permanent Representative to UN, Ruchira Kamboj highlighted the threat to regional peace posed by terror groups operation from Afghanistan, including Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Islamic State, and called for stronger action by the Taliban set-up to deliver on counter-terrorism commitments. She said that “the current authorities (Taliban) need to take much stronger action to fulfill their anti-terrorism commitments.”
These observations from India acquire significance as Jaishankar is ready to utilize his meeting with UAE foreign minister as well as other top officials of security network to highlight terror activities in Afghanistan and Pakistan in Abu Dhabi. Ruchira Kamboj also sent out a message for Pakistan at the UN, saying that “We need to see concrete progress in ensuring that proscribed terrorists, entities, or their aliases do not get any support, tact or direct, either from Afghan soil or from the terror sanctuaries based in the region (read Pakistan).”