QUAD WARNS PAKISTAN AND UNGOVERNED AFGHANISTAN : KNOW WHY

(The Quiver) : The foreign ministers of the Quadrilateral Security Group or Quad on Friday assessed the security challenges posed by the situation in Myanmar and Ukraine and warned that “ungoverned spaces” in Afghanistan pose a direct threat to the security of the Indo-Pacific.

A joint statement issued after a meeting of the Quad foreign ministers in Melbourne said, without naming Pakistan, that all countries should ensure “territory under their control is not used to launch terror attacks and to expeditiously bring to justice the perpetrators of such attacks”.

The members of the Quad – India, Australia, Japan and the US – reiterated their condemnation of terror attacks in India, including the 2008 Mumbai and 2016 Pathankot attacks. They reaffirmed the UN Security Council resolution 2593, which states Afghanistan’s territory “should not be used to threaten or attack any country, shelter or train terrorists, or plan or finance terrorist acts,” and said “such ungoverned spaces” are a direct threat to the Indo-Pacific.

The Mumbai attacks were carried out by the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) while the Pathankot attack was blamed on the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) – both Pakistan-based groups. The reference to the two attacks and to cross-border terror in the joint statement was perceived as an endorsement of India’s position on terrorism.

“We denounce the use of terrorist proxies for cross-border terrorism and urge countries to work together to eliminate terrorist safe havens; disrupt terrorist networks and the infrastructure and financial channels which sustain them; and halt cross-border movement of terrorists,” the joint statement said.

The Quad is exchanging information on evolving threats and working with Indo-Pacific countries and at multilateral forums to counter all forms of terrorism and violent extremism, it added.