New York: India has asked the international community to bolster its security action inside and outside Afghanistan to ensure that terrorists and their patrons are deprived of shelter, financing and ideological support.

"We should not underestimate the Taliban and al-Qaeda nor fight terrorism with any less military and political determination than in the immediate post-2001 days" after terrorist attacks on the United States, India's UN Ambassador Nirupam Sen told the Security Council yesterday.

Intervening on the debate on situation in Afghanistan ahead of extension of the mandate of the United Nations mission there, Sen also stressed the need to vigorously fight drug trafficking which sustains terrorism.

"International partners must also make effort to upgrade Afghan capacity to take more effective action to prevent cross-border smuggling and movements, and work unitedly in support of action by Afghan agencies and internationally, to stem demand of narcotic products," he said.

The counter-narcotics effort, Sen said, is "precisely at the intersection" of the effort to assist government establish its authority, the fight against terror and organised crime and a challenge to poverty alleviation and development. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in its latest report, had urged the government to "muster the political will" on eradication of poppy cultivation and take measures against erring public officials and large land owners.

But Sen said this is part of the picture and equally important are effective disincentives against poppy cultivation in contrast to efforts to "legitimise the practice" via so-called "legal opiates."

Source : PTI