Developing Regional Counterterrorism Cooperation in South Asia
Author : Alistair Millar
Date : December 2009
In light of the 2008 attacks in Mumbai and numerous terrorist attacks since, this article in the CTC Sentinel looks at the pressing need and prospects for developing a regional approach to intelligence sharing, law enforcement, and other forms of counterterrorism cooperation in South Asia. It highlights some of the challenges to developing effective regional counterterrorism cooperation in South Asia by looking at the counterterrorism efforts of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation. It argues that South Asian states and their external partners need to move beyond well-intended statements to focus on building practical counterterrorism cooperation at the technical level. Specifically, it recommends the establishment of a new regional counterterrorism forum for cooperation, with the necessary expertise and mandate to provide training and implement related counterterrorism capacity-building efforts in South Asia, arguing that building the capacity of and trust between law enforcement and judicial officials and other technical counterterrorism practitioners in the region could lead to higher levels of political cooperation against terrorism.
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