ISLAMABAD – Intelligence chiefs from Russia, China and Iran met inPakistan Thursday to discuss anti-terrorism cooperation, sources said, withemphasis on ways to prevent the buildup of the Islamic State militant group.
The quadrilateral meeting, hosted by Islamabad, held detailed discussionson anti-terrorism cooperation and reviewed the secuirty situation inAfghanistan.
Sources, however, dismissed that the understanding reached during themeeting could undermine US-led efforts to stabilise Afghanistan, saying thecooperation was “not targeted against any other country as it may beviewed”.
The fight against Islamic State and other militant groups including AlQaeda is at the heart of the US counterterrorism mission being conductedalongside the NATO-led Resolute Support operation that trains and advisesAfghan security forces.
As well as the battle against militancy, the meeting discussed measures totackle infiltration attempts by Islamic State fighters into Afghanistanfrom Iraq and Syria.
A spokesperson for Moscow’s Foreign Intelligence Service said that theemergence of the Islamic State militant group in Afghanistan prompted theunprecendented huddle in Pakistan.
He said the director of the Russian spy agency, Sergei Naryshkin, attendedthe Islamabad meeting along with Chinese and Iranian counterparts.
Militants loyal to Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP), the movement’slocal affiliate, first started appearing in Afghanistan s Nangarharprovince around four years ago. Since then, the movement has gained areputation for brutality extreme even by the standards of the Afghanconflict, making a trademark of executions by beheading or explosion.