NEW DELHI, October 18 — National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval hosted and chaired the second India-Central Asia NSA Dialogue in New Delhi on Sunday, convening top security council chiefs from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
Strategic deliberations centered on strengthening regional counter-terrorism frameworks, disrupting terror financing and transnational narcotics trafficking corridors emanating from Afghanistan, and fortifying critical cyber-defence architectures. High on the agenda was accelerating commercial freight integration via Iran’s Chabahar Port (Shahid Beheshti terminal) to link landlocked Central Asian republics with maritime trade nodes along the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC).
A joint communiqué issued post-deliberations reiterated unyielding support for an inclusive, peaceful, and sovereign Afghanistan, strictly demanding that Afghan territory not be exploited for harbouring or financing terror proxies. India also pledged expanded technical scholarships and cyber-threat intelligence training for Central Asian security officers.
The diplomatic architecture of the India-Central Asia Summit (inaugurated virtually in January 2022), the operational geometry of the INSTC (spanning 7,200 km multi-modal rail, road, and sea routes), the geopolitical significance of Chabahar Port, the Ashgabat Agreement, and Central Asia's uranium and hydrocarbon reserves are vital topics for UPSC GS-II.