Afghan Intelligence, US Agencies Secretly Working Together, Both Sides Met in Qatar, UAE: Sources

The Afghan intelligence and the US security agencies have started secretly working closely in some areas, sources have said.

Top sources in Afghanistan have told CNN-News18 that the Kabul intelligence agency General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI) has a secret relationship with the Americans and they are cooperating with the US in some cases.

The development comes around two years after the US ended its two-decade-long war in Afghanistan as the Taliban took over the control of Kabul in August 2021.

The sources also said that the agencies of the two countries recently held secret meetings in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. During the series of meetings, the two sides explored areas where they can cooperate and follow up in the future.

Top sources also said that the attack on ISIS militants in Takhar province in northeastern Afghanistan last year in October was based on the information provided by GDI.

Four Islamic State militants, including 2 senior commanders, were killed in the Dashti Qala district on October 22.

The same militant group was also responsible for the Kabul airport blast in August 2021, sources said.

Haqqani and Kandhari Divide

Sources have said that the rift between the Haqqani and Kandhari groups in Afghanistan is because of some insiders in Taliban, who have taken help from Pakistan.

After the Taliban came to power in August 2021, the world community started having good relations with the Haqqani network because the group had become the international face of Taliban. The assurance of the Haqqani network was also important for any investment in the war-torn country.

The sources said that the prominence of the Haqqani group was not acceptable for some people in Kandahar and Pakistan and as a result, Aymen Al Zawahiri, who was in the safehouse belonging to a top aide to Sirajuddin Haqqani, was killed.

Zawahiri was killed in a counter-terrorism operation carried out by the CIA in Kabul in August last year.

According to sources, Zawahiri’s killing happened because Siraj’s rivals shared the information with the Americans.

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