ISLAMABAD – In light of the increasing strength of the Islamic State in Afghanistan, four high profile spy chiefs met in Pakistan to discuss how to counter the extremist group’s influence.
Sergei Ivano, spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Intelligence revealed that the meeting was held under the auspices of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), though the huddle was not reported on mainstream media.
The meeting was attended by Russian Foreign Intelligence Director Sergei Naryshkin and comes months after Russia’s growing allegations against the USA for supporting the ISIS in Afghanistan.
A Russian State Department official requesting anonymity said: “ISIS has grown stronger over the last couple of years, despite a really withering military campaign, principally from U.S. forces, but with strong support as well from Afghan forces”.
US rejects all such suspicions, especially in light of their increased air strikes targeting the ISIS members. They allege that chances for peace with Afghanistan have been deterred by non-cooperation and support for the Taliban by Russia and Iran.
They also commented that the recent huddle in Pakistan was a chance to escalate involvement which is not conducive to the goal of peace, Washington examiner reported.
In the meeting, discussions pertained to trying to ensure that there was no domino effect of the terrorism in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan to the neighbouring countries of Iran, China and Russia.
Russia and China have recently been trying to exert more control in Afghanistan as displayed by the Beijing-led Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) which vows to adopt a more active stance on security issues in Afghanistan.
