New Delhi: India and US on Tuesday discussed and reviewed possible threats by terrorism. They also discussed cross border terror in the South Asian region and pledged to strengthen cooperation to counter the menace.

The 15^th meeting of the India-US Counterterrorism Joint Working Group was held in Delhi. The Group issued a statement in which the ministry of external affairs said the two sides achieved important progress on counter-terrorism cooperation.

“The Working Group reviewed threats posed by terrorist groups worldwide and in their respective regions including cross border terrorism in the South Asian region,” the statement said.

Both the sides from US and India are committed to strengthen their network of information sharing over some of the world’s most dangerous terrorist groups and individuals and exchanged different views on efforts to counter the financing and operations of regional and global terrorist organisations, the statement said.

State Department’s Principal Deputy Coordinator for Counterterrorism Alina L Romanowski was the chief from the US delegation and Joint Secretary in the MEA Mahaveer Singhvi led the Indian side at the meeting.

During the meetings, the two sides discussed international efforts to be able to counter threats posed by foreign terrorist fighters, the statement informed.

“The working group also discussed international and bilateral cooperation on justice, law enforcement and capacity building efforts to counter terrorism and UN Security Council Resolution 2396,” the statement said.

Both the sides from India and US discussed ongoing efforts to ensure the effective implementation of domestic and international terrorist designations, following up on the inaugural US-India Counterterrorism Designations Dialogue in December last year.

After Pakistan was accused by the US President of not doing enough to contain the militant activity, both inside as well as in Afghanistan, the US government stopped millions of dollars of aid. Washington went on insisting Pakistan to do more to stop its home grown activities. After this disengagement, the US signaled its intention to involve India more and then there were some meetings from the sides to counter the issues. The recent meeting was not the first of its kind. There have been many meetings on this issue. But now they are taking it seriously. With US facing difficulties in Afghanistan, it is planning for a support. And the most strategic point can be offered by India.

Apart from that India is also worried about China’s border transgression at several points on the border, which includes Dokhlam issue. The Dokhlam was a sensitive issue due to which both the sides were critical and an imminent war being seen. But the issue was resolved tactfully for some time with both the sides agreeing to take their soldiers back.

India needs to secure its border for progressive development.

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