Asserting that terrorism will not end as long as there are states to sponsor it, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat on Thursday said that the only way to end terror is to follow the US method after the 9/11 terror attacks.

He said there is a need to take a hardline approach in dealing with terrorism, the way the US went after terror groups after the 9/11 terror attacks.

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“We have to bring an end to terrorism and that can only happen the way Americans started after 9/11. They said let’s go on a spree on global war on terror,” General Rawat said while addressing the Raisina Dialogue 2020, in Delhi.

He added that isolating terrorists and taking to task those sponsoring terrorism is the only means to end the menace.

The CDS further said that the war on terror is not ending and will continue until its roots are found.

“The war on terror is not ending, it is something which is going to continue, we will have to live with it until we understand and get to the roots of terrorism,” he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

He asserted that terrorism is here to stay so long as there are states that sponsor it, adding that they use terrorists as proxies, provide weapons and fund them. “Then we can’t control terrorism,” he said at the event.

He further stated that any country which sponsors terrorism has to be taken to task. He said that one such good measure is blacklisting by Financial Action Task Force (FATF), and added that diplomatic isolation is necessary.

On containing radicalisation, the Chief of Defence Staff said it can be checked if right persons are targeted, adding there was a need to confront the “ideology of radicalisation”.

In his address, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat also said that he supported a negotiated peace deal between the US and Taliban in Afghanistan.

“Now a peace deal with Taliban is required,” Gen Rawat said.

“It must be a negotiated peace deal so that the Taliban stops using terrorism,” he added. Hinting that the US should maintain its presence in Afghanistan, the CDS said that though Afghan security forces are now equipped to fight back terror groups in Afghanistan, they still need support.

Speaking on his role, General Rawat said that the CDS is the first among equals but has got clear and well-defined responsibilities.

“While he is the first among equals, he has some authority over the three service chiefs except on operational issues,” he said.

CDS General Rawat was speaking along with other world leaders at Raisina Dialogue organised by India’s influential think-tank Observer Research Foundation (ORF).

General Bipin Rawat is the first sitting Chief of Army Staff to be appointed to the top post.