The Indian Union Home Minister Amit Shah said the situation in India’s neighborhood had changed after the Taliban took control of 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, the Indian official said these new equations had made the problem of terror financing more serious. Afghanistan is not participating in the event, the Tribune reported.
“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, organizations 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.
He 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 radicalize youth and raise finances in spite of significant progress being made in fortifying the security architecture and financial systems. He also contended that financing terrorism was more dangerous than terrorism, which could not and should not be linked to any religion, nationality, or group.
