Without naming Pakistan, India said on Thursday the “epicentre” of global terrorism was in its neighbourhood and asked the United States to make sure that no particular extremist group was left out in the fight against terrorism.
In his opening remarks at the first-ever India-U.S. Strategic Dialogue, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna said the global nature of the security challenges that the world faced today, particularly the threat posed by transnational terrorism, required India and the U.S. to cooperate more closely than ever before.
“Though the epicentre of this threat lies in India's neighbourhood, it reaches far and wide all across the world as we have seen time and again and most recently a few weeks back in Times Square,” Mr. Krishna said.
“Given the fact that the groups who preach the ideology of hatred and violence are increasingly coalescing, sharing resources and operating as one, it is incumbent upon all of us to focus our efforts laser-like on every one of them,” he said.
Targeting only one or other such groups would only provide false comfort in the short term and would not usher in long-term stability, Mr. Krishna said in an apparent reference to Pakistan's reluctance of Pakistan to take strong action against the Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Mr. Krishna said:
“We are committed to working with the international community to find solutions to the pressing global challenges of the day.
“Today, our two countries share an increasing convergence of interests on a whole range of global issues. Our two nations have been shaped by enduring foundation values of openness, pluralism and tolerance. These inspirational values and interests provide us the opportunity to work together to meet the challenges of the 21st century.
“I truly believe that ours is a relationship of limitless opportunities for mutual benefit.
U.S. aware of concerns
In her unusually lengthy speech — lasting more than 13 minutes — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton touched upon a wide range of issues from counter-terrorism to climate change, clean energy, food security, international security, bilateral cooperation in the education sector, the civilian nuclear deal and went on to praise India's role in Afghanistan.
She assured the Indian delegation that the U.S. was well aware of India's concerns in the region, Afghanistan in particular, and would work with New Delhi to address those.
Noting that both India and the U.S. had been “seared by acts of terrorism,” Ms. Clinton said security was the top priority between the two countries.
She said the two countries would have to increase their cooperation in counter-terrorism by better intelligence sharing and training first responders to make “our own homelands safer.”
