Toward a greater Quad role in counterterrorism

On July 29, the foreign ministers of the United States, Australia, Japan and India held a meeting in Tokyo within the framework of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, commonly referred to as Quad. While the main items of the agenda were maritime security, Houthi attacks and denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, the partners also affirmed their commitment to strengthening counterterrorism cooperation.

What is the reason for developing new platforms when there are functional institutions like the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism?

Unlike multilateral systems, minilateral ones have the advantage of being more region-oriented and devoid of ambiguity. For instance, given the complicated history between India and Pakistan, a security forum excluding the latter would more likely encourage Delhi to discuss sensitive issues.

In a joint statement released following the July event, the Quad participants denounced terrorism in all of its manifestations. Of special concern was terrorists’ use of modern communication technologies, drones and tunnels to achieve their goals. Also, the partners called for coordinated efforts to combat the groups designated by the UN as terrorists, primarily Al-Qaeda, ISIS, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba.

While Al-Qaeda and ISIS are global jihadist groups, the other two focus their activities on specific regional issues. Both the Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist organizations have been pursuing the goal of merging India’s Kashmir into Pakistan. Lashkar-e-Taiba is known as Pakistan’s most powerful jihadi group, founded in the mid-1980s with financial assistance from Osama bin Laden.

Working together to counter terrorist threats

However, the question arises as to whether the