DUSHANBE, August 21. /TASS/. The situation in Afghanistan requires the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) to take cooperation with the United Nations and other credible organizations to a new level, former SCO Secretary General Rashid Alimov told TASS on the sidelines of a conference dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
"The growing activities of terrorist organizations in Afghanistan and potential threats to regional stability create the need for the SCO to take cooperation with the UN and the CSTO [the Collective Security Treaty Organization] to a new level," Alimov said. In this regard, he pointed to the joint anti-terrorism drills that the SCO and the CSTO carry out.
The expert emphasized that SCO members continued to search for ways to facilitate efforts to resolve the protracted conflict in Afghanistan. "Initiatives put forward by China, Russia and Uzbekistan are very important on the Afghan track," Alimov noted.
SCO members include Russia, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia are SCO observers, and Azerbaijan, Armenia, Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Turkey are dialogue partners. Tajikistan is presiding over the organization in 2021.