US intel chief Tulsi Gabbard says Prez Trump, PM Modi working together to defeat terrorism

The United States Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, said ‘Islamist terrorism’ has plagued America, India, and several countries in the Middle East, adding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump are working together to defeat it.

Gabbard, who is visiting India for her multi-nation trip to the Indo-Pacific regions, met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar earlier on March 17.

During media interaction, Gabbard while responding to a question said, "President Trump, through his first administration and he continues now, has been very clear about his commitment to defeating this threat of Islamist terrorism that has unfortunately plagued us and has and continues to pose a direct threat to American people.”

“We see how it has been impacting people here in India and Bangladesh, currently ongoing in Syria, Israel and different countries in the Middle East. This is a threat that I know Prime Minister Modi also takes seriously and one where our leaders will work together to try to identify and defeat that," she said while replying to how the Trump administration sees the repeated terror attacks on India from Pakistan.

She also said that the United States is deeply concerned about the situation in Bangladesh while referring to the persecution of religious minorities.

Gabbard noted that the Trump administration is focused and committed to defeating "Islamist terrorism" globally.

"The longtime unfortunate persecution, killing, and abuse of religious minorities like Hindus, Buddhists, Christians, and others has been a major area of concern for the US government and President Trump and his administration,” she was quoted as saying.

She also stated that the Donald Trump-led new Cabinet has begun talks with the interim government in Bangladesh.

"The talks are just beginning between President Trump's new cabinet coming in and the Government of Bangladesh, but this continues to remain a central focus area of concern," she said.

She further made a mention about the ideology of an "Islamic Caliphate" and how extremist elements and terror groups globally aim for such an outcome.

"The threat of Islamist terrorists and the global effort of different terror groups are routed in the same ideology and objective - which is to rule or govern with an Islamist Caliphate," she said, adding that “This obviously affects people of any other religion, other than the one that they find acceptable, and they chose to carry this out with terror and very violent ways and means.”

In February this year, when PM Modi and Donald Trump met in Washington, the US President said that he would let Prime Minister Modi handle the situation in Bangladesh.

"This is something that the Prime Minister has been working on for a long time. Frankly, I have been reading about it. I will leave Bangladesh to the Prime Minister," President Trump said at a joint press briefing.

Meanwhile, India expressed concern over the anti-India activities conducted by the Khalistani organization SFJ (Sikh For Justice) in America during Tulsi Gabbard's meeting with Defense Minister Rajnath Singh. It asked the US Admin to take strong action against the unlawful organization, news agency ANI said citing sources.

Tulsi Gabbard will be attending a high-level conference chaired by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval. The event aimed at strengthening intelligence-sharing mechanisms to tackle transnational crimes will also be attended by intelligence chiefs from Australia, Germany, New Zealand and other key partner nations.

Her Asia leg trip will conclude with an address at the Raisina Dialogue on March 18.