The Taliban* has said that its “absence” from the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) "impedes coordination" with the Eurasian grouping.
In a statement released on Wednesday, the interim Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs urged the nine-nation grouping to include it in the next summit scheduled to be held under the Kazakh presidency.
The statement reckoned said the group’s absence from SCO’s meetings posed an “obstacle to comprehensive coordination to prevent instability and drug trafficking, support humanitarian assistance, implementation of infrastructural projects, and facilitate regional economic initiatives”.
Afghanistan holds the status of an “observer” in the SCO. However, the group wasn’t invited to any of the SCO meetings under the Indian presidency owing to concerns over women and minority rights and the use of Afghan territory as a terrorist base.
Kazakhstan has taken over as SCO’s rotating presidency from India.
In a joint statement released on Tuesday, the SCO leaders described the “early settlement” of the Afghanistan situation as “the most important factors of preservation and strengthening of safety and stability within SCO region”.
“They advocate building Afghanistan as an independent, neutral, united, democratic and peaceful state, free from terrorism, war and drugs,” the joint statement said.
The SCO also reiterated its call on the need for establishing an “inclusive government” in Afghanistan.
Taliban Gov’t Represents ‘Every Ethnicity’, Islamic Group Claims
The Taliban statement said that its government “represents every language, generation, and ethnicity" of Afghanistan.
The Taliban said that concerns of the SCO states on the need to form an “inclusive government” could be addressed with the “understanding of the ground realities” in the country.
* under UN sanctions for terrorism