Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service, known locally as Radio Ozodi, reported on May 8 that Tajikistan has called on the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member nations to establish an independent agency to combat drug trafficking from Afghanistan.
Tajikistan Foreign Minister Sirojiddin Muhriddin reportedly told the SCO foreign ministers’ meeting in Goa, India last week that it was important to establish a "safety belt" around Afghanistan.
The proposal comes days after a Tajik officer was killed in a clash between government forces and smugglers in the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO)’s Shugnan district on April 29.
According to Radio Ozodi, the killed officer is the chief of the State Committee for National Security (SCNS)’s office in GBAO’s capital, Khorog, Komron Rajabzoda.
It is to be noted that Tajikistan shares more than 1,300 kilometers of border with Afghanistan, a major producer of drugs.
Media reports say the two-day meeting in Goa that ended on May 5 brought together foreign ministers from the SCO member nations.
Some media outlets report that the meeting is one of many multinational meetings amongst the emerging markets (EMs) where the Western powers are not welcome and is designed to challenge the US-led “unipolar” hegemony by promoting its members' view of a “multipolar” world.
Top Russia diplomat Sergei Lavrov reportedly accused the US authorities of supporting terrorist organizations, including the Islamic State, the East Turkistan Islamic Movement and Al-Qaeda (all banned in Russia), in Afghanistan. “There is strong evidence that the US leadership is supporting terrorist groups in Afghanistan that oppose the Taliban. They also do not abandon attempts to introduce their military infrastructure around Afghanistan, in Central Asia,” he said.
SCO comprises eight members: China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan; four Observer States and six “Dialogue Partners”.
