Asian Lite News Archive

Pakistan, Afghan sign landmark deal

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Afghan President Ashraf Ghani (R) shakes hands with Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif after a joint press conference in Kabul, Afghanistan on May 12, 2015. Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said Tuesday that a peaceful Afghanistan would benefit Pakistan and Islamabad supports the Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani (R) shakes hands with Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif after a joint press conference in Kabul, Afghanistan on May 12, 2015. Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said Tuesday that a peaceful Afghanistan would benefit Pakistan and Islamabad supports the Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process

Pakistan’s premier intelligence agency, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the Afghan intelligence outfit National Directorate of Security (NDS) have signed a landmark deal for cooperation aimed at curbing terrorism.

The agreement signed in Kabul some time last week, was officially announced by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) on Twitter, Dawn online reported .

“MoU signed by ISI and NDS includes intelligence sharing, complementary and coordinated intel operations on respective sides,” the ISPR tweeted.

The first-of-its-kind deal between the two intelligence agencies followed a landmark visit by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif along with Army Chief General Raheel Sharif and ISI Chief Lt General Rizwan Akhtar to Kabul on May 12 during which the Pakistan government denounced Taliban and said that future violence by the militant group would be treated as terrorism.

Under the agreement, the two intelligence agencies would cooperate in counter-terrorism operations.

An essential element of the accord is a provision for joint probe of the terrorism suspects.

The ISI would also equip the NDS and train its personnel.

The signing of the ISI-NDS agreement is the latest in a series of steps that Pakistan and Afghanistan have taken since the installation of the National Unity government in Kabul.