10/11/2015

Afghanistan: The Next Shanghai Cooperation Organization Member? | The Diplomat

Afghanistan: The Next Shanghai Cooperation Organization Member?

Afghanistan has formally asked to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
By Ankit Panda
October 10, 2015
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The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), first founded by by the leaders of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan in 2001, is in the middle of a quiet identity crisis. As I wrote earlier this year, the prospect of both
India and Pakistan joining the group will considerably change the nature and like-mindedness of the grouping. It appears that
now Afghanistan is throwing its hat into the SCO ring for full membership. Dmitry Mezentsev, the general secretary of the SCO,
confirmed on Friday that Afghanistan is seeking to become a full member of the organization, Afghanistans Pajhwok news
agency reports.
The Afghan authorities have recently applied to the president of the country chairing the SCO requesting for its full
membership in the Organization, Mezentsev noted. He added that Afghanistan has long been on the SCOs agenda. For SCO
member statescertainly China and Russiathe security situation in Afghanistan is of central importance to overall regional
security. Though the SCO has a mostly muted political and economic agenda, it serves as a regional coordination forum for
counter-terrorism. The SCOs Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) oversees member state cooperation against what the
organization describes as the three evils: separatism, extremism, and terrorism. Cooperation with Afghanistan must be built
not only on combating terrorism or drug trafficking but also in the economic, cultural and humanitarian spheres, Mezentsev
added.
Afghanistan received observer status at the SCO in 2012 and, before this week, was the sole SCO observer state that hadnt
taken any real steps toward accession. Afghanistan, as a member of the SCO, could serve as an important fulcrum for the
organizations regional security agenda. Indeed, while the accession of India and Pakistan could paralyze the organizations
security agenda, Kabuls accession could make the SCO more relevant in Asia. This is doubly true if the United States and NATO
end up sticking to their current plan of withdrawal from Afghanistan despite an uncertain security situation. As Richard Weitz
noted earlier this year, the SCOs future relevance will be determined by its ability to effectively address the continuing
economic and security problems of neighboring Afghanistan. Beyond making the SCO more relevant, Afghanistan itself would
have quite a bit to gain from having access to the burgeoning multilateral forum.
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