TASHKENT (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th April, 2022) The situation in Afghanistan is characterized by stable tension, the head of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO RATS), Ruslan Mirzaev, said on Wednesday.
On Wednesday, SCO member states held the 12th meeting in Uzbekistan's capital Tashkent to discuss the issue of drug trafficking.
"Undoubtedly, the security situation in the SCO region is closely interconnected with the dynamics and military-political situation in Afghanistan, which, according to our estimates, is characterized by stable tension," Mirzaev told a briefing.
There is an alarming situation in the SCO region now regarding the rapprochement of terrorist organizations with organized trans-border criminal groups involved in illegal trafficking in weapons and drugs, Mirzaev added.
SCO RATS is taking into account the experience of the organization's member countries in curbing the channels of financing terrorist, separatist and extremist activities, including those carried out at the expense of funds received from the illegal circulation of drugs, Mirzaev noted.
SCO is a political, economic, and security alliance comprising India, Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, and China. Afghanistan is one of four observer states in the SCO.
The swift ascension to power of the Taliban (under UN sanctions for terrorist activities) in Afghanistan in August of last year caused economic disarray and food shortages that pushed the country to the brink of a humanitarian crisis. Thousands of Afghans have fled the country fearful of the Taliban, widespread violation of human rights, and the deprivation of women and girls of their freedoms.
