The SCO has a larger role to play in reducing mounting tensions between the two countries caused by recent developments. A collective, region-wide campaign against terrorism is needed

India and Pakistan joined the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) as full member states during its June 8-9, 2017 summit in Astana, Kazakhstan. Before the addition of the two South Asian nations, the SCO consisted of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. The now eight-member SCO also has four observer states, including Afghanistan and six dialogue partners, including Sri Lanka. In total and together, they constitute much of the Asian geography with a population of over three billion people. The foundational purpose of SCO as the largest inter-governmental organisation in the world is to strengthen mutual trust and promote good neighbourly relations among member  states. This is to be achieved through gradual but consistent efforts by SCO member states to engage in multi-faceted cooperation to advance their collective and common interest in the sustainable human and protective security of the SCO space. Parallel to this, the SCO seeks to establish a more democratic and rational world order.

Because sustainable peace makes sustainable development possible in Asia and the rest of the world, the SCO summits continue emphasising the importance of results-driven security cooperation among its member states, observer states and dialogue partners. The addition of India and Pakistan was widely welcomed as a significant opportunity for the SCO to address lingering security threats of terrorism, extremism and separatism in South and Central Asia. Same intertwined threats have provided an enabling environment for organised criminality, while also deepening poverty that denies the youthful populations of Asia the socio-economic opportunities and facilities they need to contribute to the sustainable development and peace of their individual nations and collectively to those of the rest of Asia.

That is why Chinese President Xi Jinping at the 18th SCO Summit in Qingdao called on the SCO’s expanded membership to move from talk to action. He stated: “We need to actively implement the 2019-2021 programme of cooperation for combating ‘the three evil forces of terrorism, separatism  and extremism;’ continue to conduct the ‘peace mission’ and other joint counter-terrorism exercises…We need to give full play to the role of SCO-Afghanistan Contact Group to facilitate peace and reconstruction in Afghanistan.”

President Xi added, “Countries are increasingly inter-dependent today… confronted with many common threats and challenges that no one can tackle alone. Only by enhancing solidarity and partnership, will we be able to achieve lasting stability and development.” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who addressed the summit as a newly admitted member state, echoed his Chinese counterpart, floating the concept of ‘secure’ to underpin the work of SCO: ‘S’ for security for citizens, ‘E’ for economic development, ‘C’ for connectivity in the region, ‘U’ for unity, ‘R’ for respect of sovereignty and ‘E’ for environmental protection. He highlighted instability in Afghanistan as an “unfortunate effect of terrorism”, noting: “I hope the brave steps towards peace taken by President Ghani will be respected by all in the region.”

Moreover, Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomed the accession of India and Pakistan to the SCO. He stressed that “countering terrorism remains the priority for cooperation within the SCO”, underlining that the three-year programme of action, adopted at the 18th Summit, “envisions holding joint drills and counter-terror operations, streamlining a closer exchange of experience and operational information.” He also encouraged the SCO Youth Council to “actively participate in the work on preventing the recruitment of young people to participate in terrorist activities.”

Building on these and other statements from the SCO member states, calling for quick and concrete action to fight and eliminate terrorism, the Central Military Commission of Russia conducted a six-day joint military exercise from August 22-29, 2018, in Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia. The joint exercise was initiated by the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure of SCO (RATS-SCO), which included tactical operations with a focus on strengthening counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency preparedness, coordination and cooperation among the SCO member states. Around 3,000 soldiers, including 748 from China, 167 from India  and 110 from Pakistan, participated in the joint drill.

Indeed, for India and Pakistan, it was their first such joint military exercise since their independence in 1947. And this raised much hopes about the prospect of the two countries participating in the ‘Peace Mission 2018’ and future ones to move beyond decades of routine skirmishes along the Line of Control and to begin building inter-military confidence through SCO measures, thereby easing tensions between the two nations. Commenting on this shortly before the joint exercise, Sun Zhuangzhi, a professor at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times, “It is a rare opportunity for Pakistan and India, which have long been involved in military conflict, to enhance military exchanges and trust. This could improve regional stability.”

Contrary to these expectations, however, a rapid escalation of violence between India and Pakistan since February 14, 2019, has been a cause for serious concern in the SCO neighborhood and the rest of the world. On February 14, Pakistan-based terrorist group, Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), carried out and later claimed a suicide attack on a bus, carrying Indian Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel in Pulwama district of Jammu & Kashmir. The attack killed 44 CRPF men. This unprovoked act of terrorism was internationally condemned with calls on Pakistan to rid its soil of terrorist networks and to dismantle their support infrastructure, including safe havens and training facilities. India promised retaliation and, on February 26, conducted surgical air strikes that hit “the biggest training camp of JeM in Balakot, Pakistan.” Many militants under training at the camp are reportedly to have been killed by India’s air strikes.

Although the international community has called for restraint by India and Pakistan and de-escalation of tensions between them, now is the time for the SCO’s founding member states to act on their often-stated common objectives to restore, ensure and maintain peace, security and stability in the SCO space. In the last SCO Summit, President Putin emphasised that one of the SCO’s key priorities was to assist “in the political and diplomatic settlement of conflicts near the external borders of the organisation’s member states.”

Any escalatory moves by India and Pakistan could lead to the breakout of a larger conflict with far-reaching implications within the SCO’s own borders. The organisation should lose no time in engaging with the two countries to have them refrain from further retaliatory measures in favour of returning to direct dialogue for a resolution of mounting tensions caused by recent developments.

While this should be SCO’s immediate goal, the RATS-SCO should be tasked to identify and assess the presence of major terrorist groups and their support infrastructure throughout the SCO region. Then it should map out a results-oriented counter-terrorism plan of action for adoption by the SCO member states, whose counter-terrorism efforts the RATS-SCO should verify to ensure no distinction between and among terrorist groups. In other words, verification by RATS-SCO should expose for correction duplicitous counter-terrorism policies, which remain an impediment to effective counter-terrorism in South Asia.

As President Ashraf Ghani said while condemning the February 14 terrorist attack in India, “terrorism is a cancer in the region and requires collective efforts to root it out.” The SCO can and should initiate to lead a collective, region-wide campaign to fight and eliminate the cancer before it spreads in multiple destructive ways throughout the SCO region.

Afghanistan has done more than a lion’s share in fighting terrorism with regional and transnational roots. Our full accession to the SCO will only enable us to do a lot more, helping our neighbours, including India, Pakistan, China, Russia and Iran, address the intertwined threats of terrorism, extremism and criminality.

(The writer is the Ambassador of Afghanistan to Sri Lanka as well as Senior International Security Fellow at the New America in Washington, DC)