CDS: Ready to deal with terro spilling out of Afghanistan

Chief of Defence Staff says contingency plans were put into place to deal with such a challenge

Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat said that insurgency spilling out of Afghanistan into India would be dealt in a same way India deals with terrorism at present. He also said that India would welcome additional support in the form of intelligence input as it does its part in fighting the global war against terrorism.

Gen Rawat said India was anticipating a Taliban takeover of Afghanistan but the timelines of the latest developments have surprised it, noting that the outfit has not changed over the past 20 years He along with Commander of the US Indo-pacific Command Admiral John Aquilino was speaking at an interactive session organised by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF).

The Chief of Defence Staff said India is committed to ensuring a terrorist-free environment in the region. “As far as Afghanistan is concerned, we will make sure that any activity likely to flow out of Afghanistan and then find its way into India will be dealt with in the manner in which we have been dealing with terrorism in our country,” Gen Rawat said.

“I think if any other support can be forthcoming from the Quad nations, in at least identifying the terrorists and getting some intelligence input to fight this global war on terrorism, I think that will be welcomed,” he said.

The Quad comprises India, the US, Japan and Australia.

Gen Rawat said New Delhi was concerned about the possibility of terrorist activities from Afghanistan impacting India and contingency plans were put into place to deal with such a challenge. “From India’s perspective, we were anticipating a Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. We were concerned about how the terrorist activities from Afghanistan could overflow into India,” he said.

“And to that extent, our contingency