Swaraj also said Kerry had reiterated the continued support of the U.S.to India’s membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group and permanent membership of the UN Security Council.
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The situation in Indian-ruled Kashmir and concerns over Afghanistan will be raised in talks on Tuesday with National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, and on Wednesday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a senior USA official said. “We agreed on additional measures to strengthen our counterterrorism cooperation, specifically, to work for early operationalisation of the agreement on exchange of information on known or suspected terrorists”.
The two countries hope to find those involved in terrorist attacks in India, including the January attack on the Pathankot air force base.
His remarks came in the backdrop of the USA speaking out in support of freedom of expression after Amnesty International was charged with sedition in Bengaluru recently.
He said the enhanced cooperation between India and U.S. was to fight these non-state attackers, for which USA is helping India in modernisation of its defence, as well as in joint training. “We agreed that Pakistan needs to take strong action to strike down terror infrastructure, networks and organizations operating on its soil”, Swaraj said.
Terrorist groups are great threat to neighbouring countries and Pakistan can not alone deal with this war, he added.
A senior USA official said Kerry would urge Modi in a meeting on Wednesday to open talks with neighbouring Pakistan to resolve tension over India-held Kashmir. We have talked about sanctuaries in the country. “Mr Kerry was very glad to be able to be in New Delhi and have these discussions and we look forward to continuing that deep relationship is going forward”, Mr Kirby said. Kerry appreciated Prime Minister Narendra Modi for extending an invitation to Sharif, who came for his oath-taking ceremony. Climate change and clean energy are also to be discussed. “The common philosophies of India and United States are responsible for our ties”.
The monsoon showers that lashed Delhi this morning did not spare the US Secretary of State John Kerry, who is on his fourth visit to India.
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In a joint statement on their second strategic and commercial, the two sides resolved greater anti-terrorism cooperation, especially in the cyber-security and cyber-crime domain and elevating defense trade and technology sharing.
