ISLAMABAD – In light of the increasing strength of the Islamic State inAfghanistan, four high profile spy chiefs met in Pakistan to discuss how tocounter the extremist group’s influence.

Sergei Ivano, spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Intelligence revealedthat the meeting was held under the auspices of Pakistan’s Inter-ServicesIntelligence (ISI), though the huddle was not reported on mainstream media.

The meeting was attended by Russian Foreign Intelligence Director SergeiNaryshkin and comes months after Russia’s growing allegations against theUSA for supporting the ISIS in Afghanistan.

A Russian State Department official requesting anonymity said: “ISIS hasgrown stronger over the last couple of years, despite a really witheringmilitary campaign, principally from U.S. forces, but with strong support aswell from Afghan forces”.

US rejects all such suspicions, especially in light of their increased airstrikes targeting the ISIS members. They allege that chances for peacewith Afghanistan have been deterred by non-cooperation and support for theTaliban by Russia and Iran.

They also commented that the recent huddle in Pakistan was a chance toescalate 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 nodomino effect of the terrorism in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan to theneighbouring countries of Iran, China and Russia.

Russia and China have recently been trying to exert more control inAfghanistan as displayed by the Beijing-led Shanghai CooperationOrganization (SCO) which vows to adopt a more active stance on securityissues in Afghanistan.