Chef of the National Directorate of Security (NDS) of Afghanistan, Ahmad Ziya Siraj, was on a two-day working visit to Tajikistan from January 14 to January 15, according to the public relations center of the State Committee for National Security (SCNS) of Tajikistan.
While in Dushanbe, Ahmad Ziya Siraj held talks with SCNS chief Saymumin Yatimov.
The parties reportedly discussed issues related to expansion of bilateral cooperation between the two countries in providing regional security and stability in Afghanistan.
They also discussed issues related to joint fight against international terrorism, improvement of border security and prevention of drug smuggling.
Yatimov and Siraj reportedly discussed a number of regional and international issues being of mutual interest.
The parties expressed concern that with intervention of certain international diversionary forces Afghanistan has turned into a battlefield. This factor also poses threat to the neighboring nations, the SCNS public relations center says.
It was underlined that international terrorist organizations such as Al-Qaeda, Islamic State (IS), Ansorallah, the Islamic Movement of Eastern Turkestan, the Islamic Movement of Turkestan, the Islamic Revival Party and others pose direct threat.
The Tajik side expressed gratitude to NDS for revealing and combating terrorist groups that took special training and were assigned to commit terrorist acts in the territory of Tajikistan.
The two sides confirmed their readiness for further expansion of cooperation in providing security along the Tajik-Afghan border and combating terrorism, extremism and drug trafficking.
Ahmad Ziya Siraj is the current care taker of National Directorate of Security (NDS) Afghanistan is a political activist in Kabul. He is a senior government official in Afghanistan and has previously served as deputy operational chief of NDS. President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani introduced him as the new chief of the Afghan intelligence on September 9, 2019.
The National Directorate of Security (NDS, Riyasat-e Amniyat-e Milli) is the primary intelligence agency of Afghanistan. The National Directorate of Security was founded as the primary domestic and foreign intelligence agency of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in 2002, and is considered the successor to KHAD (Khadamat-e Aetla'at-e Dowlat – translates directly to English as State Intelligence Agency), which was the previous intelligence organization before the Afghan Civil War (1996–2001). The NDS is part of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF), and reports directly to the Office of the President.
