India, US to deepen collaboration against LeT, JeM

NEW DELHI: India and the US have agreed to deepen their partnership against Pakistan-based terror groups Lashkar-e-Taiba ( LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed ( JeM), ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Washington later this month.

Follow @ETDefence Twitter handle for comprehensive coverage on other buzzing Defence stories

Indian Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar and the US National Security Advisor Susan Rice agreed to do expand counter-terror partnership at a meeting at the White House on Tuesday as part of preparations for the March 31-April 1 Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) that will be attended by the PM, according to informed sources.

Jaishankar and Rice also "affirmed their commitment to deepening bilateral cooperation on climate change, trade, and defence", according to a statement by US National Security Council (NSC) spokesperson Ned Price.

"They also discussed US-India collaboration against Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, and other terrorist threats," the statement affirmed.

"Building on their leaders' commitment to make the US-India partnership a defining relationship for the 21st Century, they agreed to deepen their already close collaboration on these issues," according to NSC.

Modi is expected to have a bilateral meeting with President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the 50-nation summit. Modi may also meet his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif, who will also attend NSS.

Modi met Sharif on December 25, 2015, when Modi made a surprise visit to Lahore, a first by an Indian prime minister to Pakistan since 2004.

Modi briefly attended Sharif's grand-daughter's wedding ceremony and then held a brief meeting with his Pakistani counterpart.

The attack on the Pathankot airforce base came a week later leading to the cancellation of foreign secretary level talks between India and Pakistan scheduled on Jan 15 in Islamabad. JeM has been held responsible for this attack and India has once again move UN sanctions committee to ban JeM chief. Pak Special Investigation Team on Pathankot probe is expected to visit India in near future following which Indo-Pak Foreign Secretaries are likely to meet.

During his visit to Washington last week, Pakistan's Foreign Affairs Adviser Sartaj Aziz expressed Islamabad's "gratitude" to Secretary of State John Kerry and Obama for their "consistent support to the revival of Pakistan-India dialogue".