India and the US on Friday pledged closer security ties to combat terrorist, a day after the US military’s top officer warned extremists could try to stage fresh attacks on the South Asian country.
The India-US Counter Terrorism Cooperation Initiative signed by officials on Friday calls for closer cooperation between the two countries’ commando and special forces units, an Indian government statement said.
The agreement came after top US diplomatic and military officials warned of fresh attempts by militant groups to push nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan into war.
The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, said he feared extremists would attempt another operation similar to the 2008 Mumbai attacks to goad India into armed retaliation against its neighbor.
India said the pact also aims to increase “exchanges between coast guards and the navy on maritime security” and establish procedures to undertake joint investigations.
Timothy Roemer, US ambassador to India, who signed the agreement on behalf of Washington, said it would go a long way to strengthening cooperation between the two countries.
“Today, with the formal signing of the initiative, we take several significant steps forward against terrorism,” Roemer said.
“In the coming days and months there will be even closer information-sharing and collaborative efforts on issues ranging from bomb blast probes and major event security to mega-city policing, cyber and border security,” he said.
The diplomat said the pact was forged on the sidelines of a state visit to the US by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last November.
“President [Barack] Obama and the [Indian] prime minister have acknowledged the common threat that international terrorism poses to all people,” Roemer said.
Signed in the form of a memorandum of understanding, the accord will also enhance cooperation in tracking money laundering and the financing of terrorism, the home ministry statement said.
Mullen, on a two-day visit to India, said the memorandum underlined a growing strategic alliance between the two countries, including military and security ties as well as trade and economic cooperation.
The US-India relationship “has grown dramatically in recent years,” Mullen said, and he called for the further bolstering of military relations.
“It’s time now to take this cooperation to the next level. The region is still too dangerous, the challenges we face together still too great for us not to become better friends,” Mullen told reporters on Friday.
Mullen earlier met Defence Minister A. K. Antony and his Indian counterpart, Air Chief Marshal P. V. Naik.
India says the Mumbai assault, which left 166 people dead, was carried out by the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LET) militant group and abetted by “official agencies” in Pakistan.
US officials said they have pressed Pakistan to prosecute LET extremists but have so far made little headway.
Mullen said on Thursday that the rampage showed how a small group of extremists could have a “strategic impact” by pushing countries towards a potential armed conflict.
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