Combating Terror: Need for Enhancing Indo-US Counterterrorism Cooperation

A series of terror attacks on Indian cities, another on the Indian embassy in Kabul, and now the biggest attack on Mumbai on 26/11 claiming more than 180 lives and injuring more than 300, including many US and other Western citizens,  are finally bringing India and the US on a common front of countering terrorism. Indian and American counterterrorism interests are increasingly converging and the horrendous terror attack on Mumbai could help jolt both sides into an even closer coordination on counterterrorism cooperation and intelligence sharing with the goal of thwarting regional and global terror attacks in future.

At present, Indo-US relationship is going through an unprecedented convergence of interests under “Strategic Partnership”. However this strategic partnership between India and US has not culminated in enhanced counter-terrorism cooperation. This apparent lack of cooperation could be seen in terms of their different perception on the issue of terrorism and security. Both India and the US have faced terrorism and are on the target list of Al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations. Although India has been facing terrorism from much before the US, it was only after 9/11 that it became a serious matter of concern. After 9/11, India responded by offering full cooperation to the US but Washington preferred Islamabad as a partner in its War on Terrorism because of Pakistan’s familiarity with the Taliban and the terrain of Afghanistan and its linkages with terrorist’s organizations. Pakistan became a frontline state in the US war on terrorism but it could not affect the US-India counterterrorism cooperation.

In fact, India and the US have been cooperating on counterterrorism for years but it became more significant when in January 2000 the U.S.-India Joint Working Group on Counterterrorism was established. After more than 8 years of formalized US-India counterterrorism cooperation there has been some success. The global economy, including in Asia, the region most affected by terrorism of various hues, continued to progress despite sporadic acts of terrorism on certain sectors of the economy, such as tourism. International co-operation has so far prevented any act of terrorism involving the use of weapons of mass destruction.  America has successfully managed to prevent a repeat of 9/11 on its homeland because of the tightening of laws relating to terrorism and strengthened homeland security measures. But in India, terrorist attacks are no more confined to J&K and have spread throughout the country. The reason lies in India’s soft stand on terrorism and lack of strong policy framework and political will to tackle terrorism.

Despite Indo-US counterterrorism agreement on the need to aggressively contain terrorist threats, Washington and New Delhi have failed in the past to work as closely as they could to minimize terrorist threats. This failure is largely the result of divergent geo-strategic perceptions, Indian reticence to deepen the intelligence relationship, and U.S. bureaucratic resistance toward elevating counterterrorism cooperation beyond a certain level. The gravity of the threat posed to both countries from terrorists in the region requires New Delhi and Washington to overcome past suspicions and recognize that they both stand to gain considerably from stepping up their cooperation.

To some extent, intelligence sharing between India and US seems to be improving. The news that the US had shared intelligence related to the attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul with the Indian government weeks before the attack occurred is an indication in this regard. In the aftermath of Mumbai terror attack, the visit of Condoleezza Rice to India and Pakistan; US government’s tough gesture to Pakistan asking it to act and cooperate with India; the FBI team’s visit to Mumbai to probe and assist Indian investigating agencies are significant steps in this direction. This has finally compelled Pakistan to crackdown on terrorist’s camps, a step required to fight terrorism, not only at the regional,  but also at global level.

There could be a better congruence between American and Indian viewpoints on the issue of terrorism if and when the US administration grasps the point as the American media, the American think tanks and, of course, the rest of the world have, that it is Pakistani military and intelligence which is standing in the way of stabilizing democracy in Afghanistan. The coalition forces in Afghanistan are facing a well armed and well trained Jihadi Taliban force and suffering casualties only because Pakistan is supporting them. USA and India need to cooperate more strongly and objectively on counterterrorism than they have in the past. It’s the time for both to assist each other in foiling terrorists threats at regional and global level by sharing their counterterrorism skill and capability, increasing joint counterterrorism activities, enhancing trust and confidence in each other's counterterrorism strategies, and understanding each other's core national security concerns that shape their respective counterterrorism goals.