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| Afghanistan |
| NDS-ISI MoU Was 'Not Signed In Secret' |
| 2015-05-27 |
| [Tolo News] The public can rest better knowing the intelligence Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Kabul and Islamabad was not signed secretly and arbitrarily, Chief Exceutive Abdullah Abdullah ... the former foreign minister of the Northern Alliance government, advisor to Masood, and candidate for president against Karzai. Dr. Abdullah was born in Kabul and is half Tadjik and half Pashtun... 's front man Mujeebul Rahman Rahimi said on Tuesday. News of a cooperative agreement being signed between the National Directorate of Security ...the Afghan national intel agency... (NDS) and Pakistain's Inter-Services Intelligence ...the Pak military intelligenceagency that controls the military -- heads of ISI typically get promoted into the Chief of Army Staff position. It serves as a general command center for favored turban groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad, tries to influence the politix of neighboring countries, and carries out a (usually) low-level war against India in Kashmir... (ISI) leaked just a couple days after it was supposedly signed. However, the way to a man's heart remains through his stomach... in the wake of the revelations, pushback was stalwart, especially from Parliament, and the Afghan government was forced to back track on the issue, claiming the MoU was never finalized and would be assessed further before it became so. Rahimi emphasized how important it was that the secret deal was exposed, in turn, bringing some transparency and accountability to the process. He said he hoped the experience would serve as a notice to all those who hope to broker deals in the shadows. "The document is being reconsidered and corrected, and those who wanted to make a secret deal have been prevented because people are aware of it and the presence of the media will not allow issues related to the nation's future to be dealt with this way," Rahimi told TOLOnews. Chief Executive Abdullah's office is said to have been in agreement with the original draft of the MoU, but objects strongly to the changes that were brought later on. "There were items in this agreement that were against the national interests, according to the NDS, and there were also issues that the CEO had crossed out himself," Rahimi said. "The reason they were not removed is something Parliament has been informed about," he added. The MoU is first and foremost a cooperative agreement, which outlines the terms of collaboration between the NDS and ISI on counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency in their respective territories. This, in principle, is something nearly all leaders in Afghanistan have expressed support for at one time or another. However, the way to a man's heart remains through his stomach... the rub of the agreement comes down to the potential provision of training for the Afghan forces by Pakistain as well as the sharing of information between the two spy agencies. The National Security Council is said to be behind the agreement. But its cultural advisor, Najeebullah Manali, on Tuesday claimed the council had only been involved with the agreement at the early stages. |
| Posted by:Fred |