US: Top Biden national security aide in India to discuss bilateral ties

Joe Biden. Pic/AFP

A top national security adviser to US President Joe Biden is in New Delhi to hold talks on various bilateral issues, including allegations related to the assassination attempt on a Sikh separatist, the White House said here. Principal Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer led a delegation to New Delhi on December 4 to review the progress made in the ambitious US-India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET) with India's Deputy National Security Advisor Vikram Misri, it said in a readout.

The iCET is a major milestone in the US-India partnership, which is increasingly defined by strategic security and technology cooperation, the White House added. It said Finer conducted bilateral and regional consultations with Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra for in-depth discussions aimed at strengthening coordination and policy alignment across the Indo-Pacific, including the wider Indian Ocean Region. They discussed the Middle East, including the recent attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea and the importance of safeguarding freedom of commercial navigation, as well as plans for a post-conflict Gaza and a pathway towards a two-state solution, according to the readout.

"Finer acknowledged India's establishment of a Committee of Enquiry to investigate lethal plotting in the United States and the importance of holding accountable anyone found responsible," the White House said. The US State Department on Monday welcomed a decision of the Indian government to set up a committee to investigate the allegations of an assassination attempt by a junior Indian official on a separatist Sikh leader in the US. "When this alleged incident was brought to our attention, we made very clear at the most senior levels of our government to the most senior levels of the Indian government how seriously we would treat something like this. They have opened an investigation into the matter and we look forward to seeing the results of that investigation," State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters at his daily news conference.

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