Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
The United States told the UN Security Council that “we hunted down” Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden as the 15-member body adopted its first presidential statement on counter-terrorism in five years, on the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
At a Security Council briefing on Friday on threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts, the council reaffirmed its condemnation of the 9/11 attacks and stressed that terrorism must not be linked to any religion, nationality, civilisation or group.
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US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz said, “Together, we hunted down bin Laden. Our coalition destroyed the ISIS’s caliphate. We killed al-Baghdadi and al-Zawahiri,” referring to leaders of militant groups. Pakistan, which is currently serving as a non-permanent member of the Security Council and whose two-year term ends in December this year, was present at the horseshoe table during the remarks. The 9/11 attacks were orchestrated by bin Laden, who was later found hiding in Abbottabad in Pakistan and was killed by US Navy SEALs in May 2011.
Waltz also referred to major terror attacks in countries represented on the council. “Colleagues, as I look around the table, everyone in this room, all on this Council, from Latvia to Liberia, everyone has lost men and women in uniform confronting terrorism in the years since. So, for most of you, September 11 is sadly not the only terror attack in your national memory. We should take stock of that. We should remember that,” he said. He cited the 2014 Peshawar school massacre in Pakistan, in which about 130 children were killed, and the July 7, 2005 London bombings.
The presidential statement reaffirmed the council’s “unequivocal condemnation” of the 9/11 attacks in New York, Arlington, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. It said all acts, methods and practices of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of motivation, and in all their forms and manifestations, wherever, whenever and by whomever committed. The council said it remained determined to strengthen the global fight against terrorism and stressed that acts of international terrorism, and the financing, planning, preparation or any other support for them, are contrary to the purposes and principles of the UN Charter. “The Security Council reaffirms that terrorism should not be associated with any religion, nationality, civilisation or group,” the statement said. Before this, the council had adopted a presidential statement in 2021 to mark the 20th anniversary of Resolution 1373, which set up the UN Counter-Terrorism Committee. The latest statement also expressed concern over the continued presence of terrorist groups linked to ISIL (Da’esh), Al-Qaida and their affiliates across the world.
Speaking at the briefing, Pakistan’s UN envoy Asim Iftikhar Ahmad highlighted his country’s role in the global fight against terrorism. “The terrorism threat in various geographical regions, such as in Africain the Middle East, and in our own neighbourhood in Afghanistan, is deeply worrying. More than 4,700 innocent Pakistanis have lost their lives to terrorism emanating from Afghanistan over the last three years. We have faced some of the most callous terrorist attacks carried out by savage entities like TTP, the BLA, and its Majeed Brigade, which continue to operate with impunity from sanctuaries in Afghanistan with significant external support,” he said. The meeting marked 25 years since the 9/11 attacks, with the US remarks, the Security Council statement and Pakistan’s intervention all underscoring the continuing global focus on counter-terrorism.
With PTI Inputs
– Ends
SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
