There is “evidence” to show that the ISIS is in contact with militants in Bangladesh, US Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday said on his first visit to the Muslim-majority country witnessing a wave of brutal attacks on minorities and secular activists, in a major blow to the Government’s stance.
“...There is evidence that ISIS in Iraq and Syria has contacts with about eight different entities around the world and one of them is in South Asia,” Kerry said.
“They are connected to some degree with some of the operatives here and we made that very clear in our conversation. There was no argument about it,” he said after talks with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and his Bangladeshi counterpart AH Mahmood Ali.
Hasina’s administration has consistently denied that ISIS has gained a foothold in the country and Kerry’s remarks are a major blow to that stance.
Kerry conveyed the US’ interest to work closely with intelligence agencies of Bangladesh to fight terrorism and said that “we need to exchange information to combat terrorism”, Hasina’s press secretary Ihsanul Karim told a media briefing. Kerry said he has had “important discussions on securityissues” in Dhaka during his maiden day-long tour.
“Important discussions today in Bangladesh including on security issues & our strong support in fighting against violent extremism,” he tweeted after his meeting with Hasina and Ali.
Kerry, who later in the day heads to New Delhi, described the visit as “significantly important”. Ali said discussions with Kerry were “open” and “fruitful”, encompassing issues of bilateral ties and cooperation in areas including militancy and trade.
“We had a very open discussion on issues of Bangladesh-US relations... It was a fruitful discussion,” he said during the briefing along with the Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan and State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam after holding talks with Kerry. Issues of cooperation in combating terrorism and militancy largely dominated the talks, Ali said but declined to elaborate immediately. “These are issues to be disclosed gradually,” he said.