New Delhi
8 November 2010
In the joint statement issued towards the end of Barack Obama's visit, India and
the US said terrorist outfits such as Lashkar e-Tayyiba (LeT) must be defeated and the
26/11 terrorists brought to justice.
"Condemning terrorism in all its forms, the two sides agreed that all terrorist networks,
including Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, must be defeated and called for Pakistan to bring to justice
the perpetrators of the November 2008 Mumbai attacks," it read.
In the context of Afghanistan, the two sides reiterated that safe havens and infrastructure
for terrorism and violent extremism in both Afghanistan and Pakistan should be
eliminated.
Among the several new initiatives agreed upon was a security dialogue between the
Ministry of Home Affairs and the Department of Homeland Security of the US to further
deepen operational cooperation, counter-terrorism technology transfers and capacity
building.
The delay in the release of the joint statement was attributed to New Delhi's decision to
wait till the official engagements of the visit were over but the drafting of joint statement
is understood to have gone down to the wire because both sides were keen to get the
language right.
The joint statement was silent on Kashmir, although Obama had spelt out his position in
the joint news conference with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The joint statement devoted a fair degree of attention on East Asia, with India and the US
declaring their commitment to work together, and with others in the region, for the
evolution of an open, balanced and inclusive architecture in the region.
"The US welcomes, in particular, India's leadership in expanding prosperity and security
across the region. The two leaders agreed to deepen existing regular strategic
consultations on developments in East Asia, and decided to expand and intensify their
strategic consultations to cover regional and global issues of mutual interest, including
Central and West Asia," the document said.
Both sides also spoke about their intention to work together for promotion of peace and
security of the global commons.
India reaffirmed its unilateral and voluntary moratorium on nuclear explosive testing
while the US reaffirmed its commitment to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty
(CTBT) and bring it into force at an early date.
Both sides called for diplomacy to resolve the Iranian nuclear issue.
The joint statement also dwelled on US support for India's quest for a permanent UNSC
seat and on the removal of Indian defence and space agencies from the US entity list,
which bars export of dual-use technology.
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