SCO Wants Peaceful Solution for Afghan Crisis

The head of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) said the organization is interested in finding a peaceful solution to the Afghan crisis.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is extremely interested in finding a peaceful solution to the crisis in Afghanistan, the organization's head, Dmitry Mezentsev, told RIA Novosti.

"The SCO activity in the political-diplomatic sphere, granting Afghanistan observer status in 2012… is the greatest sign of the organization's interest in solving the Afghan issue peacefully," Mezentsev said in an interview.

Mezentsev stated that all SCO state heads called for the resolution of the crisis in Afghanistan by the people of that country during the summit in Beijing in 2012.

He said that drug trafficking is one of the worst issues in the country.

According to the SCO head, the organization's member states are actively increasing their cooperation in anti-drug trafficking. The organization is successfully implementing its anti-narcotic strategy, Mezentsev said.

Afghanistan participated in the work of the SCO earlier this month as an observer.

The SCO is a Eurasian political, economic and military alliance founded in 2001. The organization currently comprises Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Iran, India and Pakistan, as well as Mongolia and Afghanistan currently have observer state status, while Belarus, Turkey and Sri Lanka are the alliance's dialogue partners.