Secretary John Kerry with Indian Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj

WASHINGTON (Diya TV) — In a joint effort Tuesday, India and the U.S. urgently pleaded with Pakistan to dismantle its safe havens for terrorist groups and criminal networks, adding that there is no possible way to classify them as good or bad.

“Secretary (John) Kerry and I discussed at length the issue of terrorism, which is the key challenge to the international community, and the foremost threat to international peace and security,” External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said in a joint press conference with the U.S. Secretary of State, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker after the conclusion of the Second India-U.S. Strategic and Commercial discussion.

“I am happy to note that there was a meeting of minds on this issue,” she said.

Swaraj said she spoke with Kerry at length about the ongoing issue of cross-border terrorism that India and the larger region faces from Pakistan.

“We both agreed that nations must not maintain double standards, such as the categorization of good and bad terrorists, nor must they act as sanctuaries and safe havens for terrorist organizations,” she said.

“We reaffirmed the urgent necessity for Pakistan to dismantle safe havens for terrorists and criminal networks including Lashkar-e-Toiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad and D Company. Secretary Kerry and I also agreed on the need for Pakistan to do more to bring the perpetrators of the 2008 Mumbai and 2016 Pathankot terrorist attacks to justice quickly.”

The two also discussed the dire need to further strengthen an international coalition to counter terrorism globally. Kerry said the U.S. will continue to support all efforts to bring the perpetrators of the Mumbai and Pathankot terror attacks to justice.

“Let me be clear… United States continues to support all efforts to bring the perpetrators of Mumbai and the Pathankot attacks to justice and we cannot and will not make distinction between good and bad terrorism,” he said.

“Terror is terror no matter where it comes from and who carries it out.”

Kerry also said that the U.S. and India have agreed to exchange “terrorist screening information” to deepen cooperation in designating terrorist groups at the UN.

The Secretary of State also revealed that the U.S., India and Afghanistan will hold a trilateral meeting in the UN General Assembly session in September in which Indian investments in major Afghan infrastructure projects would be discussed.