US will smash LeT, says under secy

NEW DELHI: The US has said it was committed to destroying and defeating all terror syndicates , including the “strong connectivity” that Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba and al-Qaeda have built. US under secretary of defence for policy Michele Flourney, who arrived here after a visit to Pakistan, said India and the US have common interests in fighting terrorism in all its forms.

“We have a very strong shared interest in fighting terrorism in all its forms. We see a strong connection between the groups like LeT and al Qaeda. This is the syndicate we are committed to combat in its entirety and I think we are strongly interested in building the co-operation that we have in this area,” she told reporters here.

Ms Flourney, however, parried a question over the alleged support Pakistan’s rogue spy agency ISIS provides to anti-India militant groups in that country , as has been reinforced in the documents leaked by internet whistleblower WikiLeaks. “I am not here to talk about specifics of Pakistani entities,” she said, adding “I don’t think there is a strong difference of view (between India and the US) in how we see the (terror) threat and (the need to) combating it.”

Ms Flournoy, who met defence minister A K Antony, National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon, defence secretary Pradeep Kumar and defence and foreign policy experts, said her visit has come at “a very important time in the US-India defence relationship.”

“In the past two months, numerous US officials have come to Delhi. I think this is a tangible demonstration of the priority that we give to this relationship ,” Ms Flournoy said.