President of Kazakhstan Urges ‘Decisive Response' to Moscow Terrorist Attack from SCO

Kazakhstani President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has told top security officials of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) that a "systemic and decisive response" was needed to counter the "three forces of evil", namely terrorism, extremism and seperatism, as he condemned the terrorist attack in Moscow last month.

Tokayev told the NSA-level officials that the tragic events of Moscow have shown that terrorists continue to use cruel and inhuman forms of violence, a statement from the Kazakhstan presidency after the meeting said on Wednesday.

"Kazakhstan immediately expressed its strong condemnation of the terrorist attack and expressed its solidarity with Russia. The special services of the two countries are in constant contact on issues of cooperation in the anti-terrorist sphere. The terrorist attack in the Moscow region is strongly condemned by the entire international community, including the countries represented by you today... The main thing is to draw the right conclusions and take the necessary practical measures. We need to ensure the safety of our citizens and give a worthy rebuff to the terrorist threat," Tokayev told the meeting.

The Kazakh leader underscored that combatting terrorism, extremism, seperatism, transnational organised crime, drug trafficking and cybersecurity challenges in the SCO sphere was a priority for his country during its ongoing SCO presidency.

He called for the need to adopt a plan to counter terrorism for 2025-27, as well as developing an SCO Anti-Drug Strategy for 2024-29.

"The SCO is one of the foundations of an updated international security architecture. Therefore, our organisation should set an example of coordinated and concrete steps to ensure stability and security in the region," remarked Tokayev.

Kazakhstan Calls for Paying 'Increased Attention to Afghanistan'

Tokayev stressed that "increased attention" should be paid to the situation in Afghanistan so that its territory couldn't be exploited by international terrorist groups.

He also underlined that it was important to continue efforts to prevent a humanitarian crisis in the country.

Focussing his attention to the Gaza conflict, Tokayev warned that it remained a serious threat to regional stability.

"Irreparable damage has been done to regional stability. High-level diplomacy is needed to prevent further escalation. In general, it can be stated that international tensions still persist. I firmly believe that our organisation, which represents half of the world's population, is able to offer a formula for a safe and just world," stated the Kazakhstani President.

Tokayev also emphasised the principle of "indivisibility" of Eurasian security, as he called for enhancing "mutual understanding" and creating "confidence-building measures" among SCO states.

"This approach should form the basis of the strategic task of creating a security belt around the SCO perimeter," he said.

During the interaction, Tokayev also called for increased coordination among the SCO states to tackle threats from outside the Eurasian region.

"The situation in the world, unfortunately, does not show signs of improvement. Challenges to the national security of our countries, without any exaggeration, persist," remarked Tokayev.

The SCO NSA-level meeting was attended by Nikolai Patrushev, Secretary of the Security Council of Russia, Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Chinese Minister of Public Security Xiaohong Wang among others. The NSA-level officials from Belarus and Mongolia attended the meeting as SCO observers.

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