NEW DELHI, Jan 27: The United States on Monday virtually anointed India as its most durable ally in the war on terrorism and declared that New Delhi and Washington faced a common threat from the unidentified “rogue states” and terrorists groups armed with weapons of mass destruction.
“Other nations may fade in the marathon war against terrorism. India and the United States will be there together at the finish— when we win,” US Ambassador in New Delhi Robert Blackwill said in a keynote address at the 5th Asian Security Conference here.
While he did not specifically refer to Pakistan or Kashmir in his address, some of the allusions could not be missed.
“Even as the US and India together support peace, prosperity and liberty in this part of the world, Asia remains an area wracked by the cancer of international terrorism,” Blackwill said.
“During the past decade, more familiar ethnic, nationalist and separatist terrorist groups have been joined by new organizations with murderous ideological motivations. These newer terrorist organizations, which attract recruits by perverting great religious traditions, embody a lethal threat to both India and the United States,” he said.
“Both the United States and India are principal victims of this new and more dangerous kind of terrorism,” said the US envoy.
He cited the example of an attack on the Indian parliament, that New Delhi blamed on Islamabad and which triggered a nuclear standoff between the two neighbours, as a major example of the terrorism.
The US envoy said that while promoting peace in Asia and ending international terrorism were two important long-term objectives of a transformed US-Indian relationship, the third and final strategic challenge underlying this radical reform of their bilateral ties was to curtail the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction in the region.
“Today, Asia has eight nations that either have nuclear weapon capabilities or are trying to acquire them,” he said.
Blackwill listed nine Asian countries that have biological and chemical weapons or are attempting to obtain them.
Underscoring the growing strategic bonds between India and his country, Blackwill said the catalogue of intensified cooperation now included diplomatic collaboration, counter terrorism, counter proliferation, defence and military-to-military teamwork, intelligence exchange and law enforcement.—Jay Enn
