Tajikistan has expressed opposition to the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s (IEA) participation in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) activities, Russia’s special envoy for Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, said.
The issue was discussed at the SCO Foreign Ministers’ Council held in Kazakhstan’s Astana on May 20-21.
“Russia and the majority of participants favoured resuming this contact group’s work. Our Tajik partners still have certain reservations, but we hope they will reconsider their stance soon,” Kabulov said referring to the SCO-Afghanistan contact group, RIA Novosti reported.
A Tajik official, however, has said that Kabulov has incorrectly presented Tajikistan’s position in this regard.
“We note Mr. Kabulov’s incorrect presentation of Tajikistan’s position on the issue of the SCO-Afghanistan Contact Group activities,” Ahmad Saidmurodzoda, Tajikistan’s National Coordinator for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), told Asia-Plus.
“Within the framework of the SCO, Tajikistan have consistently emphasized the need to discuss Afghanistan issues. As far as the SCO-Afghanistan Contact Group activities are concerned, Tajikistan has never opposed the resumption of activities of this group; on contrary, our side draws attention to the fact that Afghanistan received the status of observer at the SCO in 2012, while protocols on the establishment of the SCO-Afghanistan Contact Group were signed with the authorities of this country in 2005 and 2018,” Saidmurodzoda said.
He further noted that in this context, the Tajik side, including during the SCO foreign ministers’ meeting, had proposed “at this stage to launch an expert discussion of Afghan issues in the SCO format.”
