NSA Ajit Doval discusses security cooperation with US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel

WASHINGTON: National Security Advisor Ajit Doval has met US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel and discussed a range of issues, including the strategic Indo-US partnership and future areas of bilateral security cooperation.

"In their discussion they emphasised US-India common security interests, their commitment to the strategic partnership and future areas of security cooperation," Pentagon Press Secretary, Rear Admiral John Kirby, said after the meeting yesterday.

Hagel and Doval also discussed recent developments in Afghanistan and the need to continue to cooperate on security and development in the region.

"Secretary Hagel conveyed that the prime minister's visit had been a great success and has laid the foundation for deepening cooperation between the two countries," Kirby said.

Doval who had arrived in the US along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week, has extended his stay in the country by two days, to meet top leaders of the Obama administration.

In their talks on Tuesday, Modi and US President Barack Obama committed themselves to joint and concerted efforts to dismantle all safe havens for terror and disrupt all financial and tactical support to al-Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Toiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, the Haqqani network and the D-company, a reference to the network of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim believed to be living in Pakistan under official patronage.

Doval will meet Secretary of State John Kerry today and is also expected to meet top brass of the American intelligence agencies and his counterpart in the Obama administration, Susan Rice.

He is expected to discuss subjects like the emerging threats in West Asia in the form of the dreaded Islamic State militant group and its implications for South Asia including India.