Taliban And SCO

Dr. Jassim Taqui

DG Al-Bab Institute for Strategic Studies

Islamabad, August 26, 2021: While Pakistan is endeavoring hard to reset ties with the US, a new trend emerges rather than sticking to SCO. In this regard, PM Imran Khan held a telephonic conversation with the Russian President Vladimir Putin wherein both leaders agreed to strengthen SCO.

Accordingly, Prime Minister Imran Khan would attend the annual meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)’s Heads of States to be held on September 16-17, 2021, in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan.

One fails to understand how can Pakistan strengthen its ties with the SCO when Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan are unhappy over PM’s courting the Taliban.

While the EU, especially France and Germany opposed recognition of the Taliban, Imran Khan is lobbying the international community to recognize the unrepentant Taliban. Ostensibly, Imran Khan forgot the massacres committed by the Taliban in Mazar Sharif in 1996 in which over 25000 were killed in cold blood. How can the civilized world agree to deal with an outfit whose hands are stained with the blood of thousands of innocent people?

How can Imran Khan deal with the issue of the Taliban when the UN Security Council passes a mandatory decision to impose massive sanctions on it as a punishment and taming?

What would Imran Khan do if the SCO imposed sanctions on the Taliban?