Let \((R,{\mathfrak {m}})\) be a Noetherian local ring and \({\mathfrak {a}}\) be an ideal of R. Suppose that \(\operatorname {height}\,({\mathfrak {a}}\hat{R}+\mathfrak P)/{\mathfrak {P}}\le 1\) , for every \({\mathfrak {P}}\in {{\,\textrm{Spec}\,}}\hat{R}\) . In this paper, it is shown that the category of \({\mathfrak {a}}\) -cofinite modules forms an Abelian subcategory of the category of all R-modules. This assertion provides a partially affirmative answer to a question raised by R. Hartshorne in [Affine duality and cofiniteness, Invent. Math. 9 (1970), 145-164].