[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2001, Book II)]
[November 9, 2001]
[Pages 1369-1370]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Joint Statement Between the United States of America and the Republic of 
India
November 9, 2001

    Since September 11, the people of the United States and India have 
been united as never before in the fight against terrorism. In so doing, 
they have together reaffirmed the enduring ties between both nations, 
and the importance of further transforming the U.S.-India relationship. 
In their meeting, President Bush and Prime Minister Vajpayee discussed ways to accelerate progress towards 
these goals.
    They noted that both countries are targets of terrorism, as seen in 
the barbaric attacks on September 11 in the United States and on October 
1 in Kashmir. They agreed that terrorism threatens not only the security 
of the United States and India, but also our efforts to build freedom, 
democracy and international security and stability around the world. As 
leaders of the two largest multi-cultural democracies, they emphasized 
that those who equate terrorism with any religion are as wrong as those 
who invoke religion to commit, support or justify terrorist acts.
    The two leaders remembered the 
victims of the many nationalities in the terrorist attacks on September 
11 and agreed that all appropriate steps should be taken to bring the 
perpetrators to justice, while protecting the lives and welfare of the 
people affected by these efforts. They noted that both countries are 
providing humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan.
    They affirmed the current campaign against the Al-Qaida network and 
the Taliban in Afghanistan is an important step in a global war against 
terrorism and its sponsors everywhere in the world. They recognized that 
the international community will have to wage a long and multi-faceted 
struggle against terrorism, with patience, determination and unwavering 
focus. They emphasized that there is only one choice and only one 
outcome: terrorism must be fought and it shall be defeated.
    President Bush and Prime Minister Vajpayee agreed that success in this endeavor would depend 
heavily on building international cooperation and securing the 
unambiguous commitment of all nations to share information and 
intelligence on terrorists and deny them support, sustenance and safe 
havens. The two leaders agreed to consult regularly on the future of 
Afghanistan. They welcomed the measures outlined in the UNSCR 1373 and 
called on all nations to ratify and implement existing UN Conventions on 
counter-terrorism. They expressed support for India's draft 
Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism and urged the 
resolution of outstanding issues to enable its adoption by the UNGA.
    The leaders of the two countries 
expressed satisfaction with the progress made in India-U.S. cooperation 
on counter-terrorism, including the Joint Working Group on Counter-
Terrorism established in January 2000. They reaffirmed their personal

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commitment, and that of their two countries, to intensify bilateral 
cooperation as a critical element in the global effort against 
terrorism. They also announced the establishment of a Joint Cyber-
Terrorism Initiative.
    Prime Minister Vajpayee and 
President Bush agreed that developments in Afghanistan have a direct 
impact on its entire neighborhood. They emphasized that the Taliban and 
the Al-Qaida network have turned Afghanistan into a center of terrorism, 
extremism, and drug trafficking and have brought immense suffering to 
the Afghan people. They agreed that a peaceful, progressive, and 
prosperous Afghanistan requires a broad-based government, representing 
all ethnic and religious groups, friendly with all countries in the 
neighborhood and beyond, as well as sizeable and sustained international 
assistance for Afghanistan's economic reconstruction and development. 
The two leaders committed themselves to work together, and in 
partnership with other countries and international organizations, to 
achieve these goals.
    President Bush and Prime Minister Vajpayee also affirmed their commitment to complete the process 
of qualitatively transforming U.S.-India relations in pursuit of their 
many common goals in Asia and beyond. They agreed that U.S.-India 
relations draw strength from the broad political support that exits in 
both democracies. They expressed satisfaction at the high level of 
engagement and progress in bilateral cooperation over the last ten 
months. In particular, they reiterated their support for the wide-
ranging bilateral dialogue architecture established in March 2000. The 
two leaders agreed that recent lifting of economic, military and 
technology restrictions on India provides a further impetus to bilateral 
relations. They welcomed the resumption of the bilateral Defense Policy 
Group as a step towards increasing exchanges and technical cooperation 
in the defense and security areas. They noted that India's interest in 
purchasing arms from the United States would be discussed at the Defense 
Policy Group meetings in December 2001. The two leaders agreed to pursue 
policies to enhance the mutually beneficial--and growing--economic and 
commercial ties between their nations. They also agreed to expand the 
Bilateral Economic Dialogue and to broaden dialogue and cooperation in 
the areas of energy, the environment, health, space, export controls, 
science and technology, including biotechnology and information 
technology. They agreed that the two sides should discuss ways to 
stimulate bilateral high technology commerce. They also agreed that we 
should begin a dialogue between the two governments with a view towards 
evaluating the processes by which we transfer dual-use and military 
items, with a view towards greater transparency and efficiency. In 
addition, the United States and India have a mutual interest in space 
and have agreed to initiate discussions on civil space cooperation.
    The two leaders expressed 
confidence that enhancing their cooperation in all these areas will go 
far towards building a long-term partnership between the United States 
and India that will greatly benefit citizens of both their nations.

Note: An original was not available for verification of the content of 
this joint statement.