Afghanistan, Pakistan agree to investigate spy attack
Source:Reuters Published: 2012-12-13 23:35:05
Afghanistan and Pakistan agreed on Wednesday to jointly investigate an assassination attempt last week on Afghanistan's spy chief that has heightened tension between the countries after Kabul said the raid was planned in Pakistan.
Leaders of both countries, accompanied by ministers and their army chiefs, met at a trilateral summit hosted by Turkey only days after the head of Afghanistan's intelligence agency was wounded by a suicide bomber in the Afghan capital.
"A joint working group comprising relevant agencies of Afghanistan and Pakistan will address the recent attack on the National Security Director of Afghanistan," all three countries said in a statement.
With explosives hidden inside his underwear, a suicide bomber wounded spy chief Asadullah Khalid last Thursday in a brazen attack that threatened to derail a nascent and already fragile reconciliation process.
After the attack, Afghan President Hamid Karzai stopped short of directly blaming his neighbor but said he knew "for a fact" the bomber came from Pakistan and that Kabul would seek "clarification" from Islamabad during the meetings in Turkey.
Pakistan had said it would assist in any investigation into the bombing, but had also urged Karzai to provide evidence before "leveling charges", and suggested Kabul look into any lapses in its own security plans that may have facilitated the attack.