India would have to decide for itself whether to “formally” join the international coalition fighting against Islamic State, the militant jihadist outfit, a senior State Department official said here this week.
Speaking to a small media group at the Foreign Press Centre, Nisha Biswal, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, noted that taking the fight to IS was “an area of concern for all countries in South and Central Asia and an issue of discussion for the U.S. in our bilateral discussions with each of the countries of South and Central Asia.”Ms. Biswal said although Washington had held “very robust discussions” with the administration of PM Narendra Modi about the threat that violent extremism, specifically of IS, whether India decides to team up with nations in militarily engaging IS or “whether India takes other steps is for India to determine.” “We value the cooperation between our two countries, which is certainly deepening on issues of combating terrorism ,” Ms. Biswal said, also alluding to the recent Countering Violent Extremism seminar sponsored by the White House, to which India sent a delegation. Asked for details on the India-U.S. civil nuclear agreement, , Ms. Biswal said, “I’m not going to get into the weeds.”
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