Building bridges with neighbours

Afghanistan will be seeking to deepen its relationship with its neighbours to the East next week at a summit in Beijing.
Leaders of the six-member Shanghai Cooperation

Afghanistan will be seeking to deepen its relationship with its neighbours to the East next week at a summit in Beijing.
Leaders of the six-member Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) are holding a summit meeting next week in the Chinese capital, Beijing. The presidents of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan have confirmed their presence at the summit. Seen as a counterbalance to NATO, its main concerns have been to reduce tension and security related problems in the region.
Afghanistan has been pushing for observer status in the grouping like its neighbours to the South, India and Pakistan. Support for Kabul has already come from the foreign ministers of Kazakhstan and Russia.
Political analyst and editor of the Wesa daily, Zubair Shafiqee, thinks the SCO may be looking to reduce Afghanistan’s dependence on the West. “Shanghai Pact countries want to encourage Afghanistan to lean less on the West by keeping Afghanistan in the grouping,” he observes. He thinks it’s a “good” move for the country. For Afghanistan there are both economic and political benefits, he says. “The SCO would be a bridge to southern and central Asia. Afghanistan should go for it!”
Foreign Minister Zalmai Rassoul told the press May 29, “We hope the role of an observer will be given to us in Shanghai.” He said, “Afghanistan has very good relations with western countries. SCO member countries are our neighbours and we want to have good relations with them, too.”

Long-term security
Ghulam Jailanee Zwak, the head of Afghan Research and Consultancy Center, believes the SCO will be keen to keep Afghanistan in its fold. But would they be able to prevent interference from neighbouring countries in Afghanistan’s internal affairs, he wonders.
Obaidullah, 26, from Ghazni is optimistic about the future. Like the editor of the Wesa daily, Zubair Shafiqee, he believes Afghanistan can prosper if we “become a friend of all the world”.
Sayed Mohammad, 51, of Laghman says Afghanistan should have “good relations with the world” like during the time of King Zahir Shah. “Good relations with China, Russia and Central Asia would benefit us economically,” he adds.
But a 42-year-old Kabul resident, who withheld his name, warns Russia and China cannot be trusted. “It is a plot to worsen our relations with the West.”