Afghanistan, Pakistan and NATO to share intelligence

Jan 25, 2007, 15:50 GMT

Kabul - Afghanistan, Pakistan and the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) on Thursday opened a joint intelligence-sharing centre in Kabul to coordinate the fight against Taliban-led insurgents.

It was 'an historic day for the Operation Enduring Freedom' - the US operation against terror and insurgents - top ISAF commander General David Richards, told reporters at the inaugural ceremony.

The opening came amid accusations by Afghan officials that some elements inside Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) were helping and training the Taliban insurgents who cross the porous border to attack Afghan and international forces.

In 2006, Afghanistan experienced its worst year since a US-led coalition invasion ousted the Taliban regime in late 2001. The bloodshed mainly occurred in areas bordering Pakistan.

Commending the Pakistani army's role in sharing information on the insurgents, Richards said that the reason the Taliban had failed in 2006 was 'the close cooperation between armies and police forces on both sides of the border.'

'There is a great deal of cooperation on a daily basis,' Richards said. But the new centre would enable Afghan, Pakistani and ISAF officers to work together even more efficiently.

The joint centre would work on operations, intelligence, and technical issues, and share information on the Afghan-Pakistani border areas. It would comprise six liaison officers each from Afghanistan and Pakistan, as well as 12 ISAF members.

Richards also announced the deployment of a new brigade of combat operation forces from ISAF nations in the near future, but did not elaborate on their exact number or nationality.

Some 33,000 soldiers from 37 ISAF nations are currently stationed in Afghanistan, while an additional 8,000 US forces are acting independently in tracking down the remnants of the Taliban and the Al-Qaeda network in the war against terror.