© REUTERSIslamabad, Moscow, Beijing and Tehran have all maintained contacts with the Taliban, saying they are meant to persuade the insurgency to seek a negotiated settlement to the Afghan war
Top security and intelligence officials from Pakistan, Iran, Russia, and China held a meeting in Islamabad, where they stressed the need for more active involvement of regional forces in efforts to resolve the conflict in Afghanistan.This is reported by TASS.
On Tuesday, a meeting of leaders of the intelligence services of Russia, Iran, China and Pakistan was held in Islamabad, at which measures were discussed to combat the threat of the reunification of ISIS fighters in Afghanistan.
During the discussions, the main attention was paid to the dangers associated with the build-up of groups of terrorists in Afghanistan.
"The conference came to the understanding of the importance of coordinated steps to prevent the flow of ISIS terrorists from Syria and Iraq to Afghanistan, where they would pose a danger to neighboring countries," said the Russian Intel Chief Sergei Naryshkin.
Senior security and intelligence officials stressed the need for greater involvement of regional forces in efforts to resolve the conflict in Afghanistan.
End of news item, beginning of commentary:
Translator observation: The only fact published is the build-up of terrorist forces. We ask, what is behind that build-up? Of course intelligence agencies are tight-lipped about what news is going to go public, but this meeting raises some obvious questions. We ask another one: Why didn't they invite the US? To ask the question is to see the answer:
Not stated in any of the news accounts of this meeting is the likely spur that led to it. Last month the Chief of Iranian General Staff Major General Mohammad Hossein Baqeri accused the US of transferring Daesh terrorists, defeated in Syria and Iraq, into Afghanistan.
Sputnik alike has reported "The US has been accused numerous times of providing various forms of support to Daesh and other terrorist groups, operating in the region.
"In mid-December, the Russian Ministry of Defense accused the US-led coalition of using the al-Hasakah-based camp to train jihadist militants who had been reorganized into the so-called "New Syrian Army."
The same month, Damascus said that US air power had been used on numerous occasions to rescue terrorist leaders from their imminent destruction at the hands of the Syrian army and even to stage 'accidental' attacks on Syrian forces as they advanced against the militants.
In most recent case that occurred in late-December, Syrian news agency SANA reported that US helicopters evacuated Daesh leaders from several areas across the Syrian province of Deir ez-Zor to the country's northeast.
The US-coalition, however, has denied all accusations.
From Guildhall.ua Translated by Tom Winter
Comment: See also: Chief of Russian General Staff: US is using its bases in Syria to retrain, rebrand and redeploy ISIS