SCO countries can play active role in solving Afghan issues
Published: 14 October, 2009, 18:10
Edited: 16 October, 2009, 06:01
Many ethnic groups in Afghanistan are also present in SCO member states, which should promote dialogue on solving disputes in Afghanistan, says Aleksandr Lukin of the Center of East Asian and SCO Studies in Moscow.










The only solution that would be lasting. SCO is the right political body to engage in the international effort to finalize and wrap up the presence of NATO in Afghanistan, and provide the necessary guarantees for the stability in the region. In order to achieve this, UN needs to take a lead in structuring a framework for a political settlement. That would allow for SCO to join UN-led efforts. NATO operation is UN-covered occupation. A decision will have to be made how to move Afghanistan settlement outside military occupation under NATO, into a political settlement run by UN. The political settlement can only be achieved by political entities, not military alliances. It would be more appropriate to involve the parties with direct interest, in this case SCO, US, Iran, India and Pakistan. The ensuring security guarantors will have to be UN, US, Russia within CSTO, and China. There is no place for NATO in securing the region. NATO was involved as US ally to route the terrorists. As the terrorists are long gone from Afghanistan, current conflict is all about the fights among different tribes, as well as an old-fashioned insurgency against occupation. As the original mission has been completed long time ago, it is time to deal with the consequences of occupation, as well as prevent the extremism that occupation generates from spilling further. It has already done a great deal of damage in formerly independent frontier Tribal Aras, and now it is bringing danger to Pakistan. The current civilian government is not up to the task. It takes all the recommendations from US military, as it does not know really what to do. This government does not know Pakistan; they came in from a long exile, and are now trying to run Pakistan, without a clue. It is quite possible that another military coup will emerge -- as this Government is clueless. Before more damage is done, let the political settlement take place.