Afghanistan needs to meet conditions for full-fledged SCO membership - diplomat

MOSCOW, December 29. /TASS/. Russia has welcomed Afghanistan’s official bid for the full-fledged membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Russia's presidential envoy for Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, said in an interview with TASS on Tuesday. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani handed over the country’s official application at the meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the SCO summit in Russia’s Ufa this July. "Afghanistan has had the status of the SCO observer state since 2012," he said. This status allows Kabul’s representatives to attend open meetings of the organization, including at the highest level, and to participate in discussions on the issues falling within competence of the SCO bodies and also have access to documents and decisions. To get a status of the SCO full member, Afghanistan needs to show "its readiness to join the ranks of the organization," the high-ranking diplomat said. Kabul should join the activity of the regional anti-terrorism body of the SCO and also implement the anti-narcotics strategy of the organization, he said. Kabulov said he regrets that Afghanistan’s cooperation with the SCO and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a military alliance of post-Soviet states, is almost not implemented "on the anti-terrorist track." He said this is one of the reasons of "the current deplorable situation in the security sphere in the country." The diplomat also welcomed Afghanistan’s regular participation as an observer in the Kanal anti-drugs operation under the CSTO auspices. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization was established by Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. In 2015, the SCO launched procedures for admitting India and Pakistan to the organization. Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia are observer states in the organization. Read more