ISLAMABAD: The intelligence chiefs of China, Iran, Russia, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Pakistan held an important meeting in Islamabad and deliberated on the developing situation in war-ravaged Afghanistan.
The high-level meeting comes days after Lt Gen Faiz Hameed’s return from Afghan capital Kabul, which he visited on the invitation of the Taliban.
An informed source told Pakistan Today that the meeting of the intelligence chief was chaired by Inter-Services Intelligence Director-General Lt Gen Faiz Hameed.
It may be noted that Pakistan’s foreign minister had also hosted virtual meeting of his counterparts from China, Iran, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan earlier this week for the same purpose. Russia, however, was conspicuously absent at the meeting.
“Security situation in Afghanistan and region was discussed during the meeting. Detailed discussion took place on long-lasting peace and security situation in the region. The long-term security situation in the region was discussed in detail,” the source said.
The source said that the intelligence chiefs also considered taking joint steps for lasting peace and stability in the region.
“Intelligence sharing was agreed upon between the heads of the intelligence agencies and an intelligence sharing mechanism was developed,” the source added.
According to the source, the meeting discussed the immediate future of regional security, economic and trade ties with the Taliban leadership.
Last week, the Taliban announced its new interim government, headed by Mohammad Hasan Akhund, with Abdul Ghani Baradar as his deputy.
Recent reports have suggested that Russia and some of the central Asian countries have some reservations about the recently announced interim government by Taliban. The situation took a grim turn after Taliban extended an invite to Pakistan, Iran, China, Russia, Qatar and Turkey to attend the oath-taking of the interim government. However, Russia announced to skip the oath-taking ceremony of Afghan Taliban government.
“Russia will not take part in any way in the Taliban government’s inauguration ceremony in Afghanistan,” Kremlin has said on Friday.
The speaker of Russia’s upper house of parliament said earlier this week that Russia would be represented at the inauguration by ambassador-level officials, the RIA news agency reported on Friday.
Interestingly, a social media account linked to Afghan government announced on Saturday that the Taliban regime has decided to call-off the oath-taking ceremony of the cabinet as an ‘austerity measure’.
Former Russian prime minister Dmitry Medvedev said in an op-ed that Russia and other central Asian countries could face a new wave of a migration crisis owing to the situation in Afghanistan, TASS news agency stated in a report.
Russia has also expressed concerns that with the rise of Taliban in Afghanistan, radical Islamist threats could emanate and spill over into Central Asia.
