In an encouraging sign, India has brought together security experts from the Central Asian republic for its first NSA meeting.
Release Date – 12:30 AM, Thu – 12 December 22
In an encouraging sign, India has brought together security experts from the Central Asian republic for its first NSA meeting.
Hyderabad: Terrorism motivated by religion is the greatest threat to the security, peace and development of all countries. India has been a victim of cross-border terrorism for decades. The Central Asian nation faces a similar threat due to its borders with Pakistan and Afghanistan. This common adversary can be effectively countered by strengthening cooperation among these countries.
The inaugural India-Central Asia National Security Advisers Meeting hosted by New Delhi showed a strong resolve to jointly tackle the challenge of terrorism in the region. Pluralistic and open democracies are often the targets of the scourge of terrorism, which strikes at the very roots of tolerance, the pillar of the free world. Over the past few years, the five countries of Central Asia—Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan—have borne the brunt of terrorism fueled by religious extremism.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Central Asia became the hunting ground for a new generation of aggressive Islamic clerics. As it has experienced an Islamic revival as a gathering point of cultural identity, it has made the region more attractive to Pakistan keen to expand its influence. The Central Asian republics are more vulnerable to the Islamic card due to decades of religious oppression under Soviet rule. In an encouraging sign, India has brought together security experts from the Central Asian republic for its first NSA meeting.
The meeting, chaired by NSA Ajit Doval, pledged to develop a collective action to tackle the use of terrorist proxies for cross-border terrorism, terror financing and radicalization, and asserted that Afghanistan must not become a terrorist A safe haven for activities. The high-level meeting stemmed from the Indo-Central Asia virtual summit held in January. In November last year, India hosted a regional dialogue on the situation in Afghanistan, which included the National Security Services of Russia and Iran, in addition to the Central Asian countries. Notably, cross-border terrorism was mentioned in what is seen as a defense of India’s position. Financial support is the lifeline of terrorism, and combating terrorist financing should be given top priority.
The use of Afghan territory by Pakistan-based terrorist groups such as Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba has serious implications for India, which has invested around $3 billion in more than 500 projects in Afghanistan. The projects span multiple provinces and cover areas such as electricity, water supply, road connectivity, healthcare, education and agriculture. India is providing free aid to the people of Afghanistan in the form of food, medicine and Covid-19 vaccine. New Delhi cannot afford to squander the goodwill built up over the past two decades. India has stepped up its focus on Central Asian countries to counter China’s growing influence in the region and has stepped up cooperation with Afghanistan after the Taliban took over the country.
