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Associated Press February 4, 2010 Security bloc considers adding Iran, Pakistan BEIJING: The conflict in Afghanistan and expanding its membership to include Iran and Pakistan are key issues facing the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in the coming year, its new head said. "In the current global context, the top priority is finding a solution to the Afghan issue," Secretary-General Muratbek Sansyzbayevich Imanaliev said during a news conference in Beijing on Wednesday. The fear is that instability within Afghanistan's borders, where Taliban fighters are challenging the U.S. and NATO-backed government of President Hamid Karzai, could well spill over into neighboring countries. The SCO is a security grouping dominated by Russia and China that also includes the four Central Asian countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. It was initially established in 2001 to primarily deal with concerns over terrorism, separatism and extremism. "All member countries of the SCO are making active contributions to the Afghanistan issue, including economic cooperation and energy support," Imanaliev said. He said the security bloc is assessing membership applications submitted by Tehran and Islamabad. The group is currently reviewing its criteria for new membership. He did not specify when a decision would be made on their bids. Discussions on expanding the group's membership is not surprising, although that doesn't mean Iran and Pakistan will soon join, said Niu Jun, a professor at Peking University's School of International Relations. Niu said he expected there would be lengthy discussions first, especially on Iran, which would be seen as a provocative move. "If Iran joined, it would drastically change the original function of the SCO, which was dealing with the terrorism threat with cooperation from China's neighboring countries. The joining of Iran would mean that the meaning of SCO has totally changed," he said. China and Russia also see the group as a way to increase cooperation on financial issues, and consider it a counterweight to U.S. influence in the energy-rich, former Soviet states of Central Asia. Iran's participation would boost that energy cooperation. Imanaliev said member states are planning to step up cooperation on regional security issues, particularly anti-terrorism efforts, as well economic cooperation. A summit among the six member nations is planned in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, later this year, though no date has been set. Another conference on peace settlement in Afghanistan is supposed to take place in Kabul at the end of the year, the official China Daily newspaper reported. =========================== Stop NATO http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato Blog site: http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/ To subscribe, send an e-mail to: rwroz...@yahoo.com or stopnato-subscr...@yahoogroups.com Daily digest option available. ============================== --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST --^---------------------------------------------------------------- This email was sent to: arch...@mail-archive.com EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bNM5nn.YXJjaGl2 Or send an email to: antinato-unsubscr...@topica.com For Topica's complete suite of email marketing solutions visit: http://www.topica.com/?p=TEXFOOTER --^----------------------------------------------------------------
