Counter-terrorism cooperation between India and the United States deepened in 2016, the U.S. State Department’s annual ‘Country Reports on Terrorism’ has said.
The “Indian leadership expressed resolve to redouble efforts, in cooperation with the United States and other like-minded countries, to bring to justice the perpetrators of terrorism,” the report released on Wednesday said.
Pakistan remained “an important counter-terrorism partner” last year, but it did not take sufficient action against groups that target India and Afghanistan.
“The Pakistani military and security forces undertook operations against groups that conducted attacks within Pakistan such as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan. Pakistan did not take substantial action against the Afghan Taliban or Haqqani Network, or substantially limit their ability to threaten U.S. interests in Afghanistan, although Pakistan supported efforts to bring both groups into an Afghan-led peace process,” the report said.
Pakistan’s inaction
“Pakistan did not take sufficient action against other externally focused groups, such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad in 2016, which continued to operate, train, organize, and fundraise in Pakistan.”
The report said India and the U.S. pledged to strengthen cooperation against terrorist threats.
