Afghanistan soil must not become terror source: India, France

INDIA and France have emphasised on the need to ensure that the territory of Afghanistan is not used as a source for terror activities and sought a concerted action against all extremist outfits, including Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed and Hizbul Mujahideen.

At the 15th meeting of India-France Joint Working Group on Counter Terrorism in Paris on Wednesday (17), the two nations condemned terrorism in all its forms, including cross-border terror, and vowed to stand together in the fight against the challenge, India’s ministry of external affairs said.

Mahaveer Singhvi, joint secretary (counter terrorism) at the Indian ministry and Philippe Bertoux, director for strategic affairs, security and disarmament at the French ministry for Europe and foreign affairs, led the respective inter-agency delegations comprising senior officials and experts at the talks.

New Delhi and Paris also recalled their interest in coordinating actively in view of the preparation of the third edition of the ‘No Money for Terror’ international conference which India will organise, the ministry said.

During the meeting, the two countries exchanged views on proscription of terrorists and entities as one of the tools to tackle terrorism and shared information about the priorities and procedures for pursuing sanctions and designations against terror entities and individuals, the Indian ministry said in a statement.

It also said that the two sides shared their assessment of the evolution of the terror threat on their respective territories and in their regional environment.

“They also underlined the need to ensure that Afghan territory does not become a source of radicalisation and terrorism, regionally or globally and is never again used to threaten or attack any country or to shelter, recruit or train terrorists, or to plan or finance terrorist attacks in accordance with the UNSC Resolution 2593,” the ministry said.

“Both sides stressed the need for all countries to ensure that territories that are under their control cannot be used to plan, launch terrorist attack against any other country, shelter or train terrorist fighters,” it said.

India and France also discussed counter-terrorism cooperation in multilateral fora including in the United Nations, building-up upon India’s membership of the Security Council for the 2021-2022 biennium and at the FATF (Financial Action Task Force).

The two countries decided that their next meeting will be held in India in 2022.

Meanwhile, terror activities continued to rock Afghanistan on Wednesday when two explosions hit its capital Kabul, killing at least one person and injuring at least six others, including three women, official sources said.