Brics NSA meet discusses Afghanistan, cross-border terror, drug trafficking

The current situation in Afghanistan, cross-border terror and drug trafficking were high on the agenda when the BRICS national security advisors’ meet on Tuesday under India’s chairship.

The NSAs discussed important issues of contemporary and future significance including regional and global security, cyber security, health safety and counter terrorism especially drug trafficking, highly placed sources told ET.
This was an important meeting in the run-up to BRICS Summit to be held in virtual format in September second week.


The national security advisors (NSAs) adopted BRICS counter-terror action plan and that will be among the key deliverables of the BRICS Summit being held under India's chairship.

The meeting led by NSA AK Doval was attended by Russian NSA Nikolay Patrushev, Chinese Politburo Member Yang Jeichi, and Brazilian NSA General Augusto Helena Ribeiro Pereira and South African Deputy Minister of State Security Ncediso Goodenough Kodwa.

Meanwhile in a statement at the UN Human Rights Council, India indirectly hit out at Pakistan and stated, “We hope that the situation in Afghanistan does not pose a challenge to its neighboursand its territory is not used by terrorist groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) , to threaten any other country.”

“We also hope that there is an inclusive and broad based dispensation which represents all sections of Afghan society,” India emphasised.

The action plan is aimed at further strengthening result oriented cooperation between BRICS countries in areas such as preventing and combating terrorism, radicalisation, financing of terrorism, misuse of internet by terrorists, curbing travel of terrorists, border control, protection of soft targets, information sharing, capacity building, international and regional cooperation, officials said.

Earlier in July, during the BRICS Working Group meeting on counter-terrorism, while condemning terrorism in all its forms and manifestations whenever, wherever and by whomsoever committed, the BRICS countries also exchanged views on terrorism threat assessment at the national, regional and global levels and resolved to enhance counter terrorism cooperation in line with the action plan.

The BRICS’ Counter-Terror strategy, adopted at the 2020 summit under Russian chairship and building on the plan initiated under Brazil’s chairship in 2019, had put the onus on China to effectively fight cross-border terrorism instead of shielding Islamabad, in what was meant to strengthen India's long-standing demand for a united front against the menace. The strategy to which China was also a party calls for 'rejection of double standards on countering terrorism and extremism conducive to terrorism'. It was decided at the 2020 Summit to utilise BRICS’ Counter-Terrorism Working Group to strengthen intelligence and information sharing and cooperation on terrorist organisations listed by the UNSC. The strategy also called for broadening BRICS counter-terrorism cooperation with the United Nations, as well as the G-20 and the FATF.