The initiation of multi-layered security cooperation is undoubtedly a very productive move to deal with the crucial issues related to funding of terrorist activities, policing cooperation & cyber threat through enhancing the technological innovation and tightening border and maritime security information gathering exercise

The long-awaited Counter Terror Homeland Security Plan draft between the US and India is a welcome sign towards developing international cooperation in fighting transnational terrorism.

The September 6 meeting between the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Defence Secretary James Mattis, and India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in New Delhi has provided a much needed impetus to work out a new security roadmap in enhancing the Defence capabilities and dealing with most obnoxious form of modern threat that is terrorism.

The initiation of multi-layered security cooperation which is better known as Indo-US 2+2 talks was planned during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US in 2017. The strategic dilogue — slated to be held in April, but was postponed because of changes in the leadership of the State Department after Rex Tillerson resigned and Pompeo was in the process of taking over — is a centrepiece of the growing ties between the US and India as Washington wants to scale up relations by extending the strategic vision from the Pacific to the Indian Ocean.

Outlining the new approach, Tillerson said last year that India and the US were “two bookends of stability on either side of the globe”. “We need to collaborate with India to ensure that the Indo-Pacific is increasingly a place of peace, stability, and growing prosperity — so that it does not become a region of disorder, conflict and predatory economics,” he said in a reference to China’s role in the region.

Washington approach also meshes with Modi’s “Act East” policy of building on India’s relations with countries to the east. An informal quadrilateral system with the Indo-Pacific region’s major democracies — India, the US, Japan and Australia — is also developing. While the dialogue was focused on strategic and Defence issues, there have been signs of stress in the trade and services sectors. Before the start of the dialogue, the Indian media talked about the possibility of the US  imposing sanctions against India if it bought S-400 Triumf air Defence missile system from Russia. India will acquire five missile systems worth over Rs 40,000 crore and the talks are in advanced stage with Russia and the deal may be announced before summit talks between President Vladimir Putin and Modi in October. India put forth its views on the proposed missile deal with Russia and conveyed to the US that it is going ahead with the contract as India needs the missile systems to bolster its air Defence system.  This comes against the backdrop of the US imposing military sanctions against Russia under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act(CAATSA) some months back.

The act allows the US Administration to punish entities and countries engaging in significant transactions with the Defence or Intelligence establishment of Russia.  However, the US Congress on August 1 granted President Donald Trump and Pompeo the power to waive sanctions.

However, the matter gained urgent currency in India as days before the 2+2 talks was to begin, Pentagon’s assistant secretary of Defence for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs Randall Schriver said that Washington cannot guarantee New Delhi a special waiver from sanctions if it buys new weapons from Moscow. Schriver said in reference to the US Congress granting powers to the President to waive sanction had created a misconception that Washington would not impose sanctions on New Delhi.

“I would say that’s a bit misleading,” Schriver said in a speech at the Carnegie Endowment For International Peace in Washington as reported by AFP. “We would still have very significant concerns if India pursued major new platforms and systems from Russia. I can’t sit here and tell you that they would be exempt, that we would use that waiver.”

He said the prospect of India buying the S-400 missile system from Russia is “troubling” for the US.

Against this backdrop, India has been trying its best to impress upon the US about its regional security environment, its decades old strategic and Defence ties with Russia and assert that New Delhi will move forward with the proposed contract. The US was also apprised of the fact that India has almost finalised the deal with Russia and there is not going back on it at this stage, sources said.

Clarifying India’s stand on the CAATSA, Sitharaman in June this year had said it is an American law and not a United Nations law, and India has conveyed its position on the issue to the US.

There has been a major paradigm shift in nations’ foreign policy outlook. Countries of the world have become more pragmatic in dealing with others and started having one to one relationships. Therefore the apprehension of having adverse impact on relations with either Russia, Iran or China are not going to have a place in the strategic policy formulation in the present scenario.

Another area which requires attention is chemical weapons in the possession of  terrorists. Actually chemical weapons are normally not easily detectable and are easily transportable compared with conventional weapons. International cooperation in terms of forming strict laws and regulations that prevent acquisition of such chemical weapons can provide a strategic management in dealing with nuclear terrorism. The forthcoming cooperation may also develop a foolproof mechanism to put an end to the accessibility to Cyclotric Methylene Trinitrate (RDX), Erythritol Tetranitrate  ( Penta ) and sophisticated weapons like AK 56 and AK 47 assault rifles.

Besides, the revolution in communication network, growth of international narcotic trade spread through the  Golden Triangle on the borders of Myanmar, Laos and Thailand and golden Crescent through the network of Afghanistan and Pakistan have posed new forms of threat. The cooperation in policing dealing with drug trafficking will provide a strong mechanism to crack the nexus between terrorists and drug dealers. The increasing cases of drug peddling and their support to terrorists and subversive activities have compelled the Government to enforce drug laws vigorously and promptly. This can become highly effective if the speedy and proper trail is ensured.

How to frame a strategy  dealing  with religiously misled terrorists and nip it in the bud will be main challenge. There have been a number of cases to ignite religious sentiments of the Islamic identity by harping on the issue of numerical preponderance has helped certain terrorist organisations in creating base for its claims and fighting proxy war for quite some time.

The question now arises is whether the anti-terrorist operations are merely a work of simple police and paramilitary network or that of a special force trained for counter-terrorist activities? The deployment of special forces in countering terrorist activities has become a reality in many countries. In this regard, the experience of different countries can help. For example, the way West German Police defeated terrorist faction, the way the French Army took measures to improve their anti-terrorist capabilities need to be studied. The Italian Police too had to combat large-scale terrorist violence from new-fascist groups and the Left-wing challenges of the Red Brigades. It is commendable that the US security and Intelligence network avoided any further terrorist attack after September 11.

India can learn a lesson or two from this. Unless we develop a high-level Intelligence network to anticipate any such threats,  the talk of combating strategies would only remain chimera. In addition to strict anti-terrorist acts, some kinds of positive programmes which can replace the frustration of terrorists can prove effective. There is also a need to promote open institutions, including political institution, to absorb the ethnic, religious and political pressure and allow them (the radicals) to vent their feelings in a proper way. This will change their mind and thus encourage them to settle their differences in some peaceful ways.

During the last two decades, the increasing drug smuggling and the nexus between drug smugglers and terrorists have posed a serious problem to the internal state-security networks and compelled various nations to organise themselves and wage a relentless war against them. But mere implementation of vigorous drug laws cannot become effective unless the judicial procedure is modified for ensuring speedy trials. The concept that one man’s terrorist can be another man’s freedom fighter must be done away with; local populace should cooperate with law enforcement machinery even at the cost of personal misery; and prompt and strict decisions should be undertaken by various nations for controlling terrorist psychologically. In changing environment the security apparatus and police need to diversify its activities by bringing together technical and professional expertise based on many decades of experience in maintaining internal security. In this regard the most crucial thing is to develop capability to anticipate security needs.

Against the backdrop of various threats looming large, it is to be admitted that the 2+2 dialogue is a pragmatic move. The remarkable  scholarships, phenomenology and decision-making process adopted by the people who make difference in strategic policy orientation of India undoubtedly present a holistic and analytical view on the need for immediate attention in the field of strategic modernisation.

(The author is a Chandigarh-based Professor of Political Science and an expert on strategic affairs)