ISI

Afghanistan, China
Guoanbu calls on ISI to cooperate with Taliban secret services

Concerned by the security situation in Afghanistan, China has spoken with the Taliban in order to secure its interests, all with the help of Pakistani spymasters.

Pakistan, Saudi Arabia
Islamabad seeks Saudi funds to finance military industry

Pakistan is strengthening its intelligence cooperation with Saudi Arabia and is also keen to see more Saudi investment in its defence industry, which was discussed at the first edition of the World Defense Show in Riyadh earlier this month.

The Agencies' Gazette
Rosfinmonitoring, Pakistan's ISI

Appointments, reforms and the issues at stake: every Monday, Intelligence Online serves up snippets big and small from the global intelligence community, this week from Moscow and Islamabad.

RussiaFinancial intelligence gagged

PakistanInter-Services Intelligence Peshawar network slips up

Afghanistan, Qatar
Taliban seek funds to finance new army

Still persona non grata in international politics, the Taliban are hoping to negotiate their first contracts with the West and shed sanctions paralysing their ambitions in Afghanistan. The Biden administration does not, for the moment, have any plans to shift its position.

Pakistan
ISI worries about protecting Chinese investments in troubled Balochistan

With the presence of secessionist factions, the Pakistani Taliban branch and the local affiliate of Islamic State, the province of Balochistan, where China is carrying out a number of major projects, has become increasingly unstable.

Saudi Arabia
Riyadh counts on restored alliance with Islamabad to boost nuclear counter-espionage capacities

Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, which is useful to Riyadh as a channel of communication with the Talibans in Afghanistan, is also of interest because of its know-how in the nuclear field. Saudi Arabia plans to provide Pakistan's military industrial complex with fresh financing in return for more help in the development of its own nuclear sector.

Pakistan
Islamabad tries to force Pakistani Talibans back to the border following truce breakdown

Pakistan's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence believed that it could bring the country's Talibans back into line by organising a truce. Now that the truce has been broken, however, spy chiefs are concentrating on securing Pakistan's border with Afghanistan at the risk of alienating their allies in Kabul.

Afghanistan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia
Riyadh renews contact with Taliban via Pakistani intelligence

Saudi Arabia, which is keen to find a new role for itself in Afghanistan, has contacted Pakistan's omnipresent Inter-Services Intelligence, which is already engaged in helping rebuild the Taliban army. Riyadh sees Afghanistan as offering a new opportunity to counter the activities of its rival, Iran, which is watching the new Saudi-Pakistani partnership uneasily.

Pakistan
Afghan Taliban mediate between their Pakistani counterparts and the government in Islamabad

Faced with a resurgence in the activities of the Taliban Pakistani branch, Tehrik-i-Taliban, the Pakistani intelligence services have opted for dialogue rather than armed repression. They asked the new rulers in Afghanistan to negotiate a truce, which was finally concluded on 9 November.

Europe, Pakistan
Pakistani intelligence service's activity in Europe invigorated by its victory in Afghanistan

Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, which played a key role in the victory of the Talibans in Kabul, remains highly active in Europe, particularly in Germany, which is a favourite target for its technology sourcing activities.

Afghanistan, Pakistan
ISI concerned about alliance between Islamic State in Khorasan and Pakistan's Taliban

Despite the proximity between Islamabad's intelligence community and Kabul's new rulers, the strengthening of the Pakistani component of the Taliban, allied with Islamic State in Khorasan, is not to the liking of Pakistan's ISI spymasters.

Afghanistan, India, Pakistan
India's intelligence service RAW deployed in bid to influence Afghan affairs

In a new strategy on Afghanistan that keeps India's opposition to Islamabad very much to the forefront, New Delhi has instructed its external intelligence service, the RAW, to corral anti-Taliban forces.

Afghanistan
Taliban high command split between Baradar and Haqqani Network supporters

Despite their victory, the Taliban remain internally divided between supporters of their former negotiator in Doha, Abdul Ghani Baradar, and members of the radical Haqqani Network.

United States
Pentagon seeks fake news automated detection grail

For one of the components of its counter-disinformation programme INCAS, US defence research agency Darpa is betting on artificial intelligence to combat foreign influence campaigns, with help from high-tech firms Sift and Protagonist.

Spotlight | Afghanistan
Armed security companies prepare for the start of a new era in Kabul

Along with Iraq, Afghanistan has been an eldorado for armed security companies over the last 20 years. With the departure of American troops on 30 August, that market suddenly dried up. This does not mean, however, that the country will no longer need armed security companies.

Afghanistan, Qatar
Doha keeps mediator role despite intelligence failures on Taliban

Qatar, home to the political branch of the Taliban since 2011, is proud of its role as mediator and the international visibility that goes with it. Its intelligence errors on the evolution of the situation in Afghanistan seem not to have dented its determination to remain closely involved.

Afghanistan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia
After fall of Kabul, Riyadh takes prudent approach to talks with Taliban

Although keen to keep on the US administration's good side, Saudi Arabia wants to prevent Iran having free rein in Afghanistan and has instructed his spymasters to engage in a prudent dialogue with the Taliban, facilitated by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence.