India takes on Pak's role in Afghanistan in QUAD meet, calls it 'instigator of problems'

Addressing the media, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla on Friday said that during the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi- US President Joe Biden and QUAD leaders, discussion regarding Pakistan's role in Afghanistan took place. "In both the meetings there was a clear sense of more careful look, examination and monitoring of Pakistan's role in Afghanistan," added Shringla. The Foreign Secretary also added that Pakistan has been a clear instigator of problems in India's neighbourhood. 

'Pakistan an instigator'

"Pakistan's role on the issue of terrorism had to be kept and certainly whether it is Quad or other partners had to keep track to that factor, an important factor that sometimes gets overlooked when you see Pakistan projecting itself as a facilitator whether it has really been in many sense instigator of some of the problems we are dealing with in our neighbourhood and beyond," Harsh Vardhan Shringla said. 

US-India to organize 'counter-terrorism joint working group meeting'

While acknowledging that the issue of terrorism is important, President Biden and PM Modi noted that both the countries will be organizing 'counter-terrorism joint working group meeting'. There is also going to be renewed US India homeland security dialogue in the areas of Law enforcement. 

On Taliban in Afghanistan

Leaders from both countries also discussed the need for Taliban to adhere to commitments under UNSC resolution 2593. 

“So, the two sides underscored the importance of combat and terrorism in Afghanistan. They called on the Taliban to adhere to these and all of its commitments under resolution 2593. That includes, obviously the issue of ensuring that the Afghan territory is not used to threaten attack against any country, shelter any terrorist groups or finance terrorist attacks and underscores the importance of combating terrorism in Afghanistan," mentioned Foreign Secretary.

Secretary Shringla also pointed out that Vice President Harris 'suo moto referred to Pakistan's role in that regard. She said that they were terror groups that were working there. She asked Pakistan to take action, so that these groups do not impact on US security and that of India'. According to the Foreign Secretary, the Vice President also agreed 'the fact of cross-border terrorism and the fact that India had been a victim of terrorism for several decades now and all the need to rein in and closely monitor Pakistan's support for such terrorist groups'. 

(With PTI inputs)