Pak must do more to eliminate terrorist safe havens: US envoy

The US today asked Pakistan to do more to eliminate terrorist safe havens saying terror groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed continue to be a
threat to everyone.

 

"We're also aware India is located in a challenging neighbourhood and the United States has been very clear, at the highest levels, that Pakistan can and must do more to eliminate terrorist safe havens," US Ambassador to India Richard R. Verma said at the US-India Expert Workshop on Countering Terrorist Use of the Internet.

 

Verma said last year, the US and India signed a Joint Declaration on combating terrorism, which outlined a shared vision for counter-terrorism cooperation and reiterated the "concerns about terrorist groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Haqqani Network, Jaish-e-Mohammed, and others".

 

"Across the board, our security cooperation is making our two nations, and the world, a safer place... Our strategic convergence on countering-terrorism has never been closer," he said.

The Ambassador said terrorist groups are using digital technologies to recruit, radicalise, and finance terror activities across borders and to coordinate attacks from remote locations, where they are often beyond the reach of national authorities.

 

He said ISIS in particular, with its sophisticated use of social media, has changed the rules of the game. While ISIS has faced significant reversals in Iraq and Syria at the hands of the International Coalition, the group remains a clear and present threat in South Asia. 

 

Verma said the Internet and social media offer ISIS potent marketing tools to reach followers around the world, raise illicit sources of funding, and to disseminate the techniques and know-how to carry out heinous attacks.

 

He said in an interconnected world, it only takes the push of a button for ISIS and other terrorist groups to reach a global audience. These digital technologies have been a key component of ISIS's drive to recruit foreign fighters, 40,000 of whom have poured into Syria over the last four years.

 

"That's almost twice as many as we saw travel to Afghanistan in the 1980s. ISIS has also used digital technologies to encourage self-radicalised or lone-wolf extremists to conduct heinous attacks near where they are located," he said.

The Ambassador said the recent attacks in the United States, France, Bangladesh, and elsewhere highlight the gravity of this threat.

"Terrorists are no longer simply building bombs and hatching plots in secret; they now post instruction manuals
online and urge individuals to commit violence on their own accord," he said.

Verma said although only a small percentage of susceptible individuals have been influenced by terrorists online, that number is still too large.

 

"We must better understand how extremist messages and propaganda gain currency, particularly among disaffected and alienated young people.

 

"When governance fails or economic opportunity wains, the potential pool of recruits undoubtedly grows and the Internet becomes an even more effective tool to indoctrinate, train, and recruit new fighters," he said. 

 

Verma said the Internet and social media offer ISIS potent marketing tools to reach followers around the world, raise illicit sources of funding, and to disseminate the techniques and know-how to carry out heinous attacks.

 

He said in an interconnected world, it only takes the push of a button for ISIS and other terrorist groups to reach a global audience. These digital technologies have been a key component of ISIS's drive to recruit foreign fighters, 40,000 of whom have poured into Syria over the last four years.

 

"That's almost twice as many as we saw travel to Afghanistan in the 1980s. ISIL has also used digital technologies to encourage self-radicalised or lone-wolf extremists to conduct heinous attacks near where they are located," he said.

The Ambassador said the recent attacks in the United States, France, Bangladesh, and elsewhere highlight the gravity of this threat.

 

"Terrorists are no longer simply building bombs and hatching plots in secret; they now post instruction manuals online and urge individuals to commit violence on their own accord," he said.
    

Verma said although only a small percentage of susceptible individuals have been influenced by terrorists online, that number is still too large.

 

"We must better understand how extremist messages and propaganda gain currency, particularly among disaffected and alienated young people.

 

"When governance fails or economic opportunity wains, the potential pool of recruits undoubtedly grows and the Internet becomes an even more effective tool to indoctrinate, train, and recruit new fighters," he said.