US, India urge Taliban to ensure Afghan is not used as terrorists safe haven

Washington: India and the US have called on the Taliban to ensure that Afghanistan is not used as a safe haven for terrorists, as officials from the two countries concluded their joint dialogue on counter-terrorism to expand their cooperation to combat the scourge.

The Indian and the US sides also called for concerted action against all terror groups, including those proscribed by the UN Security Council such as al-Qaida, ISIS/Daesh, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), a joint statement issued after the meeting here said on Thursday.

Reaffirming counter-terrorism cooperation as an important pillar under the US-India Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership, both sides pledged to further expand cooperation on law enforcement, information sharing, exchange of best practices and strategic convergence on counter-terrorism challenges, it said.

During the two-day meeting here on October 26 and 27, the US reiterated its



commitment to stand together with the people and the government of India in the fight against terrorism.

They called on the Taliban to ensure that Afghanistan is not used as a safe haven for terrorists.

The Taliban seized power in Afghanistan on August 15, two weeks before the US’ complete troop withdrawal on August 31 after a costly two-decade war.

According to the joint US-India statement, the two countries strongly condemned any use of terrorist proxies and cross-border terrorism in all its forms, and called for the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai attack to be brought to justice.

The 2008 Mumbai attack was one of the most horrific terrorist attacks in India in which 166 people, including six Americans, were killed and over 300 injured as 10 heavily-armed terrorists from Pakistan created mayhem in the country’s financial capital.