Amid the Afghanistan crisis India and Australia on Saturday held a high-level foreign and defence ministerial dialogue.
During the inaugural ‘two-plus-two’ talks the two nations set out an ambitious framework for defence with Afghanistan as a major subject of discussion.
India and Australia asserted that Afghanistan must not allow its soil to be used for terrorism and it should never again become a safe haven for "breeding and training" of terrorists
Further, the two countries also discussed the significant challenges facing the Indo-Pacific and deliberated on collaboration in dealing with Covid-19 pandemic in future.
With the talks being held on a day which marks two decades from the 9/11 terror attacks, EAM Jaishankar said that the date is a ‘reminder of importance of combating terrorism without compromise’.
On Friday, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held wide-ranging discussions with his Australian counterpart Peter Dutton, while Jaishankar met foreign minister Marise Payne ahead of the ‘two-plus-two’ dialogue.
In their talks, the two defence ministers discussed the fragile security situation in the Taliban-ruled Afghanistan and their “common concerns” relating to the possible spread of terrorism from there.