US, Pakistani, Afghan counterterrorism officials draw joint strategy on addressing threats

KABUL: Counterterrorism officials from the United States, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asian countries have drawn a roadmap to jointly address threats and speed up intelligence sharing, the Afghan national security agency said on Thursday.
The officials met in Kabul earlier this week for the two-day "Regional Conference on Campaign Against Terrorism," which had representatives from the US, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and five Central Asian countries, and delegates from Azerbaijan, the Directorate of National Security (NDS) said in a statement.
No representatives from Afghanistan's major neighbors — India, Iran, China and Russia — were present during the meeting.
"A roadmap for preclusion of joint threats from terroristic activities was drawn ... and an agreement was reached on identifying joint security threats and taking measures against their annihilation, speeding up exchange of information among the services," the NDS said.
"Participants of this meeting focused on joint threats of terrorism on national, regional and international level."
The meeting comes as Taliban attacks are on the rise in the country and Kabul is putting pressure on the new US administration to renegotiate last year's Washington-Taliban deal to withdraw all NATO troops from Afghanistan by the end of April.
Under the accord signed in Doha, Qatar, in February, the Taliban pledged to cut ties with all militant groups, including Al-Qaeda. Authorities in Kabul, as well as NATO and US officials have in recent months repeatedly said that the group had not fulfilled the pledge.
"We wanted to show to our neighbors that Afghanistan is on the frontline of war on terrorism and that if you do not side with us in this campaign, you will also face similar threats like us," a security source told Arab News on condition of anonymity, as he is not authorized to speak to the media.
"They welcomed our views and such meetings will be held in future too," the source said.
Wahidullah Ghazikhail of the Afghan Centre for Strategic Studies and Research (ACSSR) said the meeting of counterterrorism and intelligence officials in Kabul was a "good step and should have been made long time ago."
"Government officials say that 22 foreign groups from regional countries operate here so you need to involve and exchange information with those countries whose nationals fight here," he told Arab News.
"Afghanistan has been a victim of terrorism and these countries should know that if Afghanistan is secure, safe and stable, they will also benefit from it as our country serves as a bridge between South and Central Asia."