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May 19th, 2015 
David Schulberg 
Pakistan and Afghanistan have set about restoring cooperation after years of bickering and confrontation: their intelligence agencies have signed a memorandum on intelligence-sharing to tackle the Taliban insurgency together.
While it was always a
powder keg of tribal warfare, security threats soared to new
heights after Islamabad and Kabul fell out over the US-led
invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. But following former Afghan
President Hamid Karzai’s departure from power and his successor
Ashraf Ghani taking power last year, both countries have stepped
up the fight against the Taliban.
These efforts took a beating, however, as it was thought that
Pakistan feared its longstanding rival, India, would use regional
terrorism to play the blame game. The US invasion would have been
the perfect pretext for such accusations.
The decision to pool intelligence was announced in a memorandum
of understanding between the two spy agencies on Monday by the
Pakistani military’s spokesman, Major General Asim Bajwa, on
Twitter.
“MOU signed by ISI & NDS,” the announcement read,
referring to the two agencies – the Pakistan Inter-Services
Intelligence and the Afghani National Directorate of Security.
MOU signed by ISI&NDS.Includes int sharing,complimentary
and coordinated int ops on respective sides.
— AsimBajwaISPR (@AsimBajwaISPR) May
18, 2015
It mentions a broad agreement that focuses on the sharing of
intelligence, as well as “complimentary and coordinated
[operations] on respective sides.”
The announcement was officially made on the heels of the visit to
Kabul last week by Pakistan’s intelligence chief, the chief of
army staff and prime minister.
In the aftermath of a strong escalation in the armed insurgency,
the two neighbors would shift blame towards one another as well:
over in Kabul, Karzai enjoyed NATO backing in his accusations
against Pakistan and how it backs the Taliban, which rampages
across state borders and allegedly answers to Pakistani
leadership in its aims to destabilize Afghanistan.
Although Pakistan had always denied the allegations, the
international community did not see much in the way of action in
tackling the Taliban insurgency there.
The same accusations were leveled at Afghanistan some time later,
when two distinct Taliban insurgencies had started operating on
both sides of the geographical divide, both trying to topple
their respective governments and institute a strict form of
Islamic law.
Although some form of cooperation had been going on, such as
Afghanistan sending some of its cadets over to Pakistan for
training, there were still no substantial joint military
operations, as until now, suspicions ran deep.
Meanwhile, the US has continued its drone strike campaign against
the Pakistani Taliban in Afghanistan. The Pakistani border
operation against the Taliban on home soil has likewise picked up
steam.
Questions remain about the true nature of Pakistani-US
cooperation and the validity of the claim that killing Osama bin
Laden in 2011 was a huge blow to the Taliban. A recent report by
investigative reporter Seymour Hersh outlines how Washington
fabricated several key claims regarding the raid that killed Bin
Laden, the alleged mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks
on New York and Washington.
Hersh, writing in the London Review of Books, has alleged that
the US government and Pakistani officials in fact worked closely
together to smooth over political and financial disputes prior to
the May 2011 assault on Bin Laden’s Abbottabad, Pakistan
compound.
READ MORE: Snowden leaks show gaps in official
account of bin Laden raid
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Afghanistan, Pakistan resume intel-sharing after years of mutual animosity
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