Members if the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), at a virtual meeting on Tuesday, discussed the situation in Afghanistan.
Chaired by the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, the participants were the Chinese President, Xi Jinping, the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, and the Pakistani Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif.
Narendra Modi said that the situation in Afghanistan directly impacts the security of the block’s members. And that the “Afghan soil should not be allowed to be used to destabilize its neighbours.”
Modi urged the participants to provide aid to the people of Afghanistan.
The Pakistani Prime Minister, however, called for “meaningful engagement” with the Taliban, and call on the group to take “meaningful measures to ensure its soil is not used for terrorism by any entity.”
Sharif further added that “a peaceful and stable Afghanistan will not only bring economic dividends to the Afghan people but would also unlock the true economic potential of the SCO region as well as contribute to global peace, security and progress.”
The SCO was established at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan became permanent members in 2017.
