New Delhi, November 18
Union Home Minister Amit Shah today said the situation in India’s neighbourhood had changed after the change in regime in Afghanistan in August last year as the growing influence of Al-Qaida and ISIS was posing a significant challenge to regional security.
Chairing the first session of the third edition of ‘No Money For Terror’ (NMFT) international ministerial conference here, Shah, without naming Taliban, said these new equations had made the problem of terror-financing more serious. Afghanistan is not participating in the event.
“Three decades ago, the whole world has had to bear the serious consequences of one such regime change, the result of which we all have seen in the horrific attack of 9/11,” Shah said, hinting at Taliban’s rise in Afghanistan during the 1990s after the withdrawal of Soviet forces and collapse of the USSR. He went on to add that in this background, “last year’s changes in the South Asian region were a matter of concern for all of us”.
“Along with the Al-Qaeda, organisations in South Asia such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed continue to spread terror. We should never ignore terrorists’ safe havens or their resources,” he noted. Shah also highlighted the use of ‘darknet’ by terrorists to spread radical content and said there was a need to find solutions to the darknet patterns, which had also led to an uptick in the use of cryptocurrency. The Home Minister said that the terrorists were discovering new ways to radicalise youth and raise finances in spite of significant progress being made in fortifying the security architecture and financial systems. He also contended that financing of terrorism was more dangerous than terrorism, which could not and should not be linked to any religion, nationality or group.
Read More: Regime change in Afghanistan poses threat to South Asia: Amit Shah
