Whether India decides to formally join the coalition to combat IS or whether India takes other steps is for India to determine: Nisha Biswal

The United States has said it is for India to decide whether it wants to join the international coalition to combat the threat posed by violent extremism, particularly the dreaded Islamic State terrorist outfit.

India and the U.S. are having very “robust discussions” on the threat posed by violent extremism — in particular IS — and it was up to New Delhi on joining the international coalition against IS, the Obama administration said on Thursday.

“We have certainly had very robust discussions between our two governments, including at the leader level, about the threat that violent extremism poses, and specifically the threat posed by IS, and ways that we can work together to counter that threat,” Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, Nisha Desai Biswal, said.

“Whether India decides to formally join the coalition to combat IS or whether India takes other steps is for India to determine,” she said.

“But we value and welcome the cooperation between our two countries, which is certainly growing and deepening on issues of combating terrorism and combating violent extremism,” Ms. Biswal said.

IS has claimed responsibility for bombings in Libya as well as the murder of 21 Coptic Christians, most of them Egyptian.

The terrorist group abducted over 200 Christians in northeastern Syria.

Assyrian Christians, one of the world’s oldest Christian communities, have been under increasing threat since IS captured large parts of Syria.