Whats the SCOs Game Plan for Afghanistan?
By Andrew Korybko  Global Research, July 09, 2021  All Global Research articles can be read in 51 languages by activating the Translate Website drop down menu on the top banner of our home page (Desktop version). Visit and follow us on Instagram at @crg_globalresearch. ***  The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) would do well to coordinate its members efforts to contain Afghan-emanating regional terrorist threats such as ISIS-K, encourage a political compromise between Kabul and the Taliban, and devise a plan for developing the war-torn countrys connectivity potential so as to ensure its long-term stability. The future of Afghanistan is more uncertain than ever before against the backdrop of the Talibans rapid advance throughout the country in the wake of Americas impending military withdrawal by 31 August. Most observers predict an intensified period of civil war if the group, which is still regarded as terrorists by most countries such as Russia despite Moscow pragmatically hosting them on several occasions over the years for peace talks, isnt able to take Afghanistans main cities that still remain under government control. The resultant chaos might create a dangerous opportunity for ISIS-K to expand its presence in the country and even become a major security threat to Central and South Asia. With the US practically abandoning its anti-terrorist commitments, perhaps for what some suspect might be Machiavellian reasons related to provoking this very scenario, it therefore falls on the SCO to ensure regional security instead. This group comprises most of the Central Asian Republics (CARs, with the exception of Turkmenistan), China, India, Pakistan, and Russia. Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran, and Mongolia are observers while Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Turkey are dialogue partners. One of the SCOs mandates is to jointly confront the threats of terrorism, separatism, and extremism as well as enhance economic cooperation between its members. Considering the fast-moving events described in the first paragraph of this analysis, it therefore follows that they have a natural interest in working together when it comes to Afghanistan. This can take security, political, and economic forms. The first concerns supporting the two member states bordering Afghanistan, especially highly fragile and formerly civil war-torn Tajikistan, while the second involves facilitating dialogue between the warring parties. The third, meanwhile, concerns Afghanistans connectivity potential. To elaborate a bit more, nearly 1,600 Afghan troops reportedly fled to Tajikistan in recent weeks in order to escape the Talibans rapid advance in Northern Afghanistan. Sputnik reported that the group has allowed a major border crossing to continue operating unimpeded, and its widely known that the Taliban doesnt harbor any regional expansionist plans. Its therefore highly unlikely that theyd pose a threat to Tajikistan or any other CAR. Even so, the prevailing uncertainty over Afghanistans future might result in large-scale refugee influxes, especially if ISIS-K exploits the situation. For this reason, President Putin recently promised his Tajikistani counterpart full support for ensuring its border security. There should be no doubt that the Russian military base in that country is more than capable of fulfilling this mission if requested to do so, but it nevertheless provides an excellent opportunity for the SCOs members to cooperate more closely on the security front. Thus far, its Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) hasnt seen any real action. The SCO is comprised of very diverse members who lack meaningful security coordination apart from largely symbolic drills that are held every now and then. It would immensely boost the organizations effectiveness if Tajikistan requested its assistance, even if only for the purpose of functioning as a so-called live action exercise in support of the Russian-led mission. That doesnt imply the prolonged dispatch of their servicemen under the SCO banner either since this could also be accomplished by more intelligence sharing through this structure as well as the provisioning of relevant material support. Although India is in a rivalry with China and Pakistan, they all might put their differences aside in the interests of pragmatism so as to obtain the multilateral security experience that could be put to use during future regional crises, whether concerning Afghanistan or elsewhere. The second dimension of the SCOs game plan for Afghanistan should involve all members doing their utmost to encourage a political compromise between Kabul and the Taliban. Reuters reported earlier this week that the latter intends to present a peace plan during talks sometime next month, which might in effect function as an ultimatum for preventing their speculatively planned move on the capital. The Taliban denies that its seriously considering any such attack, but observers fear that it might become an inevitability if Kabul refuses to submit to their demands. In order to avoid the pronounced instability that would likely follow that battle, its in the SCOs interests to see to it that the Taliban and Kabul reach a deal during the next round of talks. The Afghan government is already largely demoralized by the US withdrawal and its official American ally will soon be less capable of defending it than ever before following its September withdrawal, so this scenario is indeed possible. Therein lies the third part of what the SCO should do to help Afghanistan and thats present the basics of a comprehensive regional economic integration proposal for showing all domestic stakeholders that peace would veritably be in everyones best interests. Februarys agreement between Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Uzbekistan to construct a trilateral railway (casually referred to as PAKAFUZ after the first letters of each participating countrys name) could unlock the war-torn countrys supercontinental integration potential by finally bringing together Central and South Asia. That could in turn lead to the establishment of a new economic axis stretching from Russia in Eastern Europe all the way down to India in South Asia that could tentatively be referred to as the SCO Corridor. This ambitious proposal should ideally be presented to Kabul and the Taliban by the SCO as a whole with the assistance of all its members during the next round of peace talks in August. There isnt enough time to flesh out the exact details, but each country could still generally commit something or another to this plan, even if only broad promises of financial assistance (whether grants and/or loans) as well as technical expertise. Whats most important is that both warring parties (but especially obstinate Kabul) realize that coming to a pragmatic compromise would suit all of Eurasias interests, not just their own, and that the supercontinents most promising multipolar body has a direct stake in that outcome. The SCO must walk the walk instead of just talk the talk, so to speak, hence the need to put aside some of its rival members differences in order to jointly present a credible plan to this end (whatever its lack of detail for the moment considering the short time frame). The much-needed goodwill and trust that could facilitate this could be greatly advanced through the earlier proposal of providing multilateral security assistance to Tajikistan. To bring everything together, the SCO has the responsibility to take the lead in ensuring that the situation in Afghanistan doesnt soon spiral out of control and create fertile ground for ISIS-Ks regional expansion. The bloc can only accomplish this by jointly containing such terrorist threats to the neighboring CARs like Tajikistan, encouraging Kabul and the Taliban to pragmatically reach a political compromise during the next round of peace talks in August so as to prevent the feared intensification of the Afghan Civil War, and greatly assisting the aforementioned by devising a credible plan for transforming Afghanistan into the centerpiece of the proposed SCO Corridor from Eastern Europe to South Asia. This is admittedly a lot to ask for an organization that hasnt yet ever been confronted with a real crisis, let alone one thats as urgent as the Afghan Civil War, but its still possible to accomplish even some of whats been suggested so long as the political will is present. *  Note to readers: Please click the share buttons above or below. Follow us on Instagram, @crg_globalresearch. Forward this article to your email lists. Crosspost on your blog site, internet forums. etc. This article was originally published on OneWorld. Andrew Korybko is an American Moscow-based political analyst specializing in the relationship between the US strategy in Afro-Eurasia, Chinas One Belt One Road global vision of New Silk Road connectivity, and Hybrid Warfare. He is a frequent contributor to Global Research. Featured image is from OneWorld  Related Articles  Conferences and suggestions about what to do in Afghanistan are chock-a-block, but the reality speaks for itself, The Shanghai Cooperation Organisations Special Conference on Afghanistan, held in Moscow on 27 March, marks a new stage in the international communitys relations with this beleaguered country. It reflected the growing clout of  22 April 2009  1 February 2019  25 March 2010The original source of this article is Global ResearchCopyright  Andrew Korybko, Global Research, 2021  https://www.globalresearch.ca/what-sco-game-plan-afghanistan/5749687