ISI chief, Afghan president agree to boost anti-terror cooperation

It was Akhtar’s third visit to Afghanistan since he assumed office in November 2014


Tahir Khan January 11, 2015
It was Rizwan Akhtar’s third visit to Afghanistan since he assumed office in November 2014. PHOTO: ONLINE

ISLAMABAD: Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lt Gen Rizwan Akhtar on Sunday met Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani in Kabul and discussed ways to boost anti-terror cooperation, according to the Afghan Presidential Palace said.

It was Akhtar’s third visit to Afghanistan since he assumed office in November 2014. He first travelled to Kabul just after taking charge as ISI chief, while in December he accompanied the army chief in the aftermath of the Peshawar school attack.

“The President of Afghanistan Mohammad Ashraf Ghani received Pakistan intelligence ISI chief Lt General Rizwan Akhtar in his office on Sunday,” the Presidential Palace said.

“In the meeting both sides discussed ways to further strengthen joint efforts against terrorism and extremism,” the statement added.

They also talked about peace and security in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the region, among other matters.

A Pakistani security official confirmed the visit but refused to comment on the nature of the meeting.

“The Afghan statement is enough and we will not add anything more,” he said when approached for Pakistani version.

Pakistani and Afghan security officials have increased contacts following the inauguration of President Ashraf Ghani in September.

Last month army chief General Raheel and his Afghan counterpart General Sher Muhammad Karimi agreed that their commanders would begin meetings immediately to further coordinate cross-border security operations.

In a sign of growing military-to-military cooperation, Islamabad and Kabul reached an understanding to ‘reactivate’ border control centres to coordinate operations against militants. Two AfPak Border Coordination Centres will be revived at the border points of Torkham and Spin Boldak, officials and Afghan sources say.

The Express Tribune has learnt military commanders of the two countries have increased interaction in recent weeks.

The rare visit of the Afghan president to army headquarters in Rawalpindi in November was seen as an important step to enhance cooperation in security areas. Moreover, Kabul has also ended its traditional blame game that had been common during the 13-year rule of Hamid Karzai.

The December 16 bloody rampage by Taliban gunmen at the Army Public School in Peshawar in which 150 people were massacred paved the way for closer cooperation between the two uneasy neighbours to counter the militant threat on both sides of the nearly 2500- kilometre border.

As most of the US-led Nato troops have withdrawn from Afghanistan and ended their combat mission, Islamabad and Kabul are now on the path of a greater cooperation.

Pakistani and Afghan officials say the Taliban and other armed groups routinely exploit instability along the difficult terrain to set up and maintain safe havens away from the reach of Afghan and Pakistani forces.

Pakistan officials insist that the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Mullah Fazlullah has regrouped his fighters on the Afghan side of the border and has launched recent attacks into the Pakistani side. Similarly, Afghanistan alleges that Afghan Taliban leaders take shelter in Pakistan and plan attacks from there.

The Afghan President met Lt Gen Akhtar just two days after he received senior Pakistani Pashtoon political leaders as part of his consultations with politicians.

Sources say that President Ghani has also invited several more Pakistani leaders to visit Kabul.

COMMENTS (8)

Jahangir Chauhan | 9 years ago | Reply

@Mirror;: Who asked Indian to comment on other country's internal matters, Indian should worry aboit their own problems.

Zalmai | 9 years ago | Reply

@ Gulbali Khan

BBC Pashto news alleges that Messrs. Zaeef, Motawakil and Ghairat Baheer would be offered ministry portfolios but Ashraf Ghani's spokesman, Nazifullah Salarzai rejected this report as baseless.

There is something brewing and the result of this witches' brew will come out tomorrow.

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