Afghanistan’s Efforts for a More Active Role in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization

Afghan Voice Agency (AVA) - Kabul: Maulvi Gul Hassan Hassan, the Ambassador of the Islamic Emirate in Moscow, announced in an interview with the Russian TASS news agency that Afghanistan will resume its active participation as an observer country in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

 

According to him, with the efforts of Moscow and Beijing, most members of the organization have concluded that the revival of Afghanistan’s active presence in the organization is logical and feasible.

 

He emphasized: “Afghanistan must participate in the meetings of the organization in accordance with its observer status.” These statements come at a time when Afghanistan has not been invited to the meetings of the organization in the past four years (since the Islamic Emirate returned to power in 2021), despite its observer status.

This is while political analysts have considered the future role of Afghanistan in this organization to be dependent on the decision-making of the members, especially the two important members of this organization (Russia and China). In their opinion, while Afghanistan's relationship with Russia and China is currently in a favorable state, Afghanistan is expected to have a position and role beyond that of an observer member of this organization in the future.

Increasing Afghanistan's political and security credibility with presence in the Shanghai Organization

Seyed Zia Hosseini, a political and regional affairs expert, in an interview with Ava, stated that the presence of an Afghan representative in the Shanghai meetings can create political, security and economic guarantees for the country and added: "What the Afghan ambassador in Moscow has raised and requested to attend regional meetings, especially the Shanghai Organization, is considered a logical and necessary idea."

According to Hosseini, Afghanistan's presence in regional factions and organizations in various dimensions is an important and necessary matter. The leaders of the Islamic Emirate are trying to attract more attention from countries in the political dimension in the form of aligned organizations. On the other hand, it will work more to expand interactions and economic development with regional countries through this channel.

According to him, "The Shanghai Organization, based on its geographical location and the presence of most regional countries in it, can create an important propaganda, political image and extensive economic interactions for Afghanistan. Therefore, Afghanistan will try harder than ever to participate in this important political, security and economic forum."

From the perspective of this political analyst, "Expanding Afghanistan's political interactions with regional countries will certainly lead to economic development. In addition, another political goal is the formation of a regional convergence on Afghanistan by the Islamic Emirate, which wants to reduce existing challenges, sanctions, and global sanctions by becoming a member of this organization. From this perspective, this organization is considered a good opportunity for Afghanistan."

One of the goals of establishing the Shanghai Organization is to prevent Western influence in the region.

Meanwhile, Abdul Reza Soroush, a university professor, also said in an interview with Ava that "based on the existential philosophy, the Shanghai Organization was established for specific goals such as political, economic interactions, and most importantly, ensuring regional security. This organization was created to create a comprehensive security system among Asian countries."

According to Mr. Soroush, one of the important goals of establishing the Shanghai Organization is to reduce the influence of the West in the region, especially the two important members of this organization (Russia and China) are trying to prevent NATO and the West from the region through this organization. 

According to Mr. Soroush, the issue of economic and trade cooperation should not be overlooked, because the members of the Shanghai Organization are actively involved in economic fields, so Afghanistan, which is located in the geography and territory of this organization, should have a share of these benefits. However, the more Afghanistan distances itself from this organization, the more vulnerable it will be from a political, security and economic perspective.

He emphasized that "in the absence of Afghanistan's presence in the Shanghai Organization, the country will suffer from a security perspective, especially from terrorist groups, while the influence of the West will also expand and the relations of the countries of the region with Afghanistan will fade."

He believes that "if Afghanistan joins the Shanghai Organization and plays an active role as an official member or observer, it will gain political and international credibility and security and economic problems will be reduced."

The nature and philosophy of the existence of the Shanghai Organization

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization is an international intergovernmental organization that operates with security, economic and political goals in the Eurasian region. This organization was founded in 2001 by the leaders of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. It has a multilateral nature and its main focus is on strengthening mutual trust, good neighborliness and cooperation in areas such as combating terrorism, separatism and extremism. Currently, in addition to the above countries, Iran, India and Pakistan are also members of this organization.