On December 30, President Emomali Rahmon met with Muhammad Asim Malik, the Director General of Pakistan's Interagency Intelligence Service, in Dushanbe, according to the Tajik president's official website.
The meeting reportedly focused on the current state and future prospects of Tajikistan-Pakistan political relations, particularly in the areas of regional peace, stability, and security, as well as addressing other key issues of bilateral cooperation.
President Rahmon expressed satisfaction with the productive political ties between the two nations and commended the high level of mutual trust.
Highlighting the partnership in security matters, the Tajik leader regarded regular contacts between the relevant agencies of the two countries as mutually beneficial.
Both parties reportedly emphasized the need to strengthen cooperation in combating terrorism, extremism, radicalism, drug trafficking, transnational crime, and other issues of mutual interest.
The Economic Times reports that Lt Gen Muhammad Asim Malik, who had previously served as an adjutant general at the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi, assumes his new role on September 30 this year, replacing Lt Gen Nadeem Anjum.
Lt Gen Malik had previously also commanded the Infantry Division in Balochistan and the Infantry Brigade in Waziristan. He has also received a Sword of Honor in his course and served as the chief instructor at National Defense University (NDU), as well as an instructor at Command and Staff College Quetta.
He reportedly is a graduate of Fort Leavenworth and Royal College of Defense Studies.
The post of ISI chief is considered one of the most important in the Pakistan Army.
The ISI is the premier intelligence agency of Pakistan. It is responsible for gathering, processing, and analyzing any information from around the world that is deemed relevant to Pakistan's national security. The ISI reports to its director-general and is primarily focused on providing intelligence to the government of Pakistan.
