The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) will be meeting in Dushanbe on Sept. 16-17. Some members of the SCO are also members of the CSTO. The eight member countries of the SCO are: India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Russia, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan, which is completing its year-long chairmanship at this summit.
Much of the discussion at the two meetings will be focused on the situation in Afghanistan, which is an SCO observer state and shares borders with several member states, but has not been invited to attend this meeting. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that there will be great consideration placed on preventing terrorist groups in Afghanistan from moving into neighboring countries. And most countries are waiting to see how successful the Taliban government is in meeting its declared commitments on this front. “Nobody is hurrying to give full recognition to the Taliban,” Lavrov said. “A key focus of the summit is Afghanistan, as members will reach consensus in urging the U.S.-led Western countries to perform their duties and urge the Taliban to completely cut itself from all terrorist groups, and discuss practical plans and new mechanisms on Afghanistan’s reconstruction and refugee issue,” Zhu Yongbiao, director of the Center for Afghanistan Studies in Lanzhou University, told the Global Times.
