Pakistan and Afghanistan spy agencies are likely to revive a controversial intelligence cooperation agreement of last year after recent fence-mending interactions between their security officials, a media report said today.
Afghanistan's head of National Directorate of Security (NDS) Masud Andrabi quietly travelled to Islamabad last week and met with director general of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lt-Gen Rizwan Akhtar.
The rare visit facilitated by China and the US was not announced by any side.
The leaders explored the possibility of intelligence and security cooperation, including the revival of last May agreement between the ISI and NDS on intelligence sharing and coordinated operations against militants, the Express Tribune reported.
In a first of its kind deal, ISI had entered into an agreement with its Afghan counterpart as the two sides started cooperation in the war on terror after years of bickering and misunderstanding.
Following the accord, Pakistan military spokesman Major General Asim Bajwa had tweeted: "MoU signed by ISI and NDS includes intelligence sharing, complementary and coordinated intelligence operations on respective sides."
Under the agreement, the two intelligence agencies would reportedly cooperate in counter-terrorism operations, including joint probe of the terrorism suspects. The ISI would also equip the NDS and train its personnel.
However, the agreement could not take effect as certain Afghan politicians, including former president Hamid Karzai, vehemently opposed the move.
The then NDS chief Rahmatullah Nabil, who had also served under Karzai, was strongly opposed to the proposed agreement with the ISI. He had even refused to sign the MoU and subsequently a deputy director signed it on behalf of the NDS.
Nabil resigned a few months later due to differences with President Ashraf Ghani over his Pakistan policy.
The report quoted a source as saying that both neighbours have realised that close 'coordination and cooperation' between the security establishments of the two countries was essential to defeat terrorism.
