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By Mirza Kashif Baig

Editor, Monthly Interaction

US invasion of Afghanistan was one of the biggest strategic events of the 21st Century. Whatever reason given by Americans to justify their invasion of Afghanistan, the fact is that it was done to gain direct access in Asia. American intentions for the Afghanistan invasion were to establish a strong foothold in Asia, to destabilize Pakistan, and to keep Russia and China in check while creating a strong nexus with India and Israel.

It seems that the USA didn’t fully give thought to the dynamics of Afghanistan and the history of the country. US forces got a swift victory in Afghanistan, which they expected, as Afghanistan lacked military infrastructure. They, however, did not anticipate the resistance from the Afghani Taliban.

It has been almost two decades now since the invasion of Afghanistan and US forces have lost more than 80% control of Afghanistan and they have accepted the Afghani Taliban as a powerful force in Afghanistan. When America overthrew the Taliban government in 2001 they formed good ties with the Nothern Alliance and brought its leaders to positions of power in the newly formed Afghanistan government and the Pashtuns were ignored on purpose.

This created worsened the troubled relationship between the Nothern Alliance and the Pashtun Taliban. Currently, the puppet government of Afghanistan has no control over the country, and effectively the Taliban are in power. USA’s policy of blindly supporting the Nothern Alliance backfired miserably.

The current US-Taliban peace talks would have yielded fruit and brought peace to the country, however, the American government seems to be changing its mind now which will mean more bloodshed in the country and a crushing defeat for the US. To avoid a shameful defeat the USA has increased the role of India in Afghanistan, as its purpose of keeping Pakistan, Russia, and China in check, would be better served by increasing Indian influence in the region, however, this policy has also failed instead this move has put the target on India.

The US has done nothing so far, except for making the region more volatile by promoting violence and disrupting the balance of power. In such a situation, when Pakistan has India on one border, America on the other, only the border with China remains safe. Pakistan enjoys a strong relationship with China and that relationship has further strengthened with the launch of CPEC.

As CPEC is a crucial part of the greater ‘One Belt One Road (OBOR)’ project, Pakistan, China, and Russia’s interests are aligned. Keeping in view the threats that Pakistan is exposed to on its borders and its geopolitical standing, Pakistan must cement its relations with China and Russia because the national interests of the three countries are aligned.

This alignment is the need of the hour to offset the threat posed by the US, India, and Israel nexus and to safeguard Pakistan’s national interest. This alliance has much to offer in terms of regional peace stability and prosperity. The establishment of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is a strong initiative in this regard.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), or Shanghai Pact, is a Eurasian political, economic, and security alliance, the creation of which was announced on 15 June 2001 in Shanghai, China by the leaders of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan; the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Charter, formally establishing the organization, was signed in June 2002 and entered into force on 19 September 2003. Since then, the organization has expanded its membership to eight states when India and Pakistan joined SCO as full members on 9 June 2017 at a summit in Astana, Kazakhstan.

The Heads of State Council (HSC) is the supreme decision-making body in the SCO, it meets once a year and adopts decisions and guidelines on all important matters of the organization. Military exercises are also regularly conducted among members to promote cooperation and coordination against terrorism and other external threats, and to maintain regional peace and stability.

The SCO is the largest regional organization in the world in terms of geographical coverage and population, covering three-fifths of the Eurasian continent and nearly half of the human population. To safeguard the security of the region, the “Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS)” was established in 2001 to combat terrorism, separatism, and extremism. The tasks and duties of SCO- RATS are as follows:

  1. Maintaining working relations with competent institutions of the member states and international organizations tackling issues of fighting terrorism, separatism, and extremism;
  2. Assistance in interaction among the member states in preparation and staging of counter-terrorism exercises at the request of concerned member states, preparation and conduct of search operations and other activities in the field of fighting terrorism, separatism, and extremism;
  3. Joint drafting of international legal documents concerning the fight against terrorism, separatism, and extremism;
  4. Gathering and analysis of information coming to the RATS from the member states, formation and filling of RATS data bank;
  5. Joint formation of a system of an effective response to global challenges and threats;

6.Preparation and holding of scientific conferences and workshops, assistance in sharing experience in the field of fighting terrorism, separatism, and extremism.

The need of the hour is to ensure the resolution of the Afghanistan issue on priority because Regional prosperity and growth depends on it. The US policy on the matter is a destructive one where terrorism is used as a tool to ensure regional destabilization. SCO is a great initiative for the survival of all countries of the region, particularly for the developing nations who are bullied economically politically, and militarily by the western allies, India and Israel.

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