Biden joins Modi to ask Pakistan to stop terrorism

There can be “no ifs or buts” in dealing with terrorism, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told the United States Congress, even as President Joe Biden joined him in asking Pakistan to stop the export of the menace from its territory.

Modi and Biden also expressed concerns over the use of drones by the terrorists.

“More than two decades after 9/11 and more than a decade after 26/11 in Mumbai, radicalism and terrorism still remain a pressing danger for the whole world,” the prime minister said as he addressed the US Congress for the second time seven years after his first.

He said that the terrorist ideologies kept taking new identities and forms, but their intentions remained the same.

“Terrorism is an enemy of humanity and there can be no ifs or buts in dealing with it. We must overcome all such forces sponsoring and exporting terror,” said Modi.

The issue of terrorism figured in the prime minister’s talks with the US president too.

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“India and America stand shoulder-to-shoulder in the fight against terrorism and fundamentalism. We’re in agreement that concrete actions are needed in order to end cross-border terrorism,” Modi said as he and Biden addressed media-persons after the meeting at the White House.

The joint statement issued after the Modi-Biden meeting, however, was more straightforward in seeking the export of terror from Pakistan. It said that the two leaders had strongly condemned cross-border terrorism, the use of terrorist proxies and called on the Government of Pakistan to take immediate action to ensure that no territory under its control was used for launching terrorist attacks. They also called for the perpetrators of the terror attacks in Mumbai in November 2008 and in Pathankot in January 2016 to be brought to justice.

Modi and Biden reiterated the call for concerted action against all groups identified by the United Nations as terrorist organisations, including Al-Qaida, ISIS/Daesh, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and Hizb-ul-Mujhahideen (HuM).

The prime minister and the US President also noted with concern the increasing global use of unmanned aerial vehicles or drones as well as information and communication technologies by terrorist organisations and reaffirmed the importance of working together to combat such misuse. The two leaders welcomed the cooperation between the two governments on counterterrorism designations and homeland security cooperation, including in intelligence sharing and law enforcement cooperation.

Modi and Biden called upon the Financial Action Task Force to undertake further work identifying how to improve global implementation of its standards to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism, according to the joint statement.

They emphasised the importance of the formation of an inclusive political structure in Afghanistan and called on the Taliban to respect the human rights of all Afghans, including women and girls, and to respect freedom of movement. They concurred on the need to continue to provide immediate humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan.