By MIRWAIS ADEEL
The Afghan government has signed an agreement with Pakistan’s military intelligence – Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) on mutual cooperation to fight terrorism.
The Tolo News TV Channel quoting sources privy of the development said the agreement will also allow ISI to train and equip the Afghan Intelligence – National Directorate of Security (NDS) personnel.
The Afghan intelligence and ISI will jointly interrogate the detained insurgents based on the agreement which was signed two days back by the Afghan deputy NDS chief.
This comes ISI chief Gen. Rizwan Akhtar secretly visited Kabul nearly two weeks ago to meet President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani.
According to the officials, Gen. Akhtar’s visit was mainly focused on peace process Pakistan’s support to persuade the Taliban militants to join peace process.
The latest agreement between Afghan government and ISI comes as the Afghan officials have long been criticizing ISI for supporting the insurgency in Afghanistan.
The US Department of Defense (DoD) also criticized Pakistan for using ‘proxy forces’ to carry out attacks in Afghanistan and India.
In a report released in November last, the DoD said “Afghan-and Indian-focused militants continue to operate from Pakistani territory to the detriment of Afghan and regional stability. Pakistan uses these proxy forces to hedge against the loss of influence in Afghanistan and to counter India’s superior military.”
The report further added that Pakistan is providing “sanctuary” to militants of the Haqqani network, a group reportedly considered by Pakistan to be part of a moderate faction of the Taliban.
The Haqqani network “remained the most potent strain of the insurgency and the greatest risk to U.S. and coalition forces due to its focus on high-profile attacks…they will likely remain the most significant threat to coalition forces in the post-2014 non-combat mission, especially if they are not denied sanctuary in Pakistan,” the report said.
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