OpinionWhy the Taliban’s return to power puts onus on Afghanistan’s neighbours to step up

The Afghanistan debacle presents an opportunity for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation to play a constructive role in meeting the region’s burgeoning security challenge – if members can get beyond historical baggage and mistrust

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Taliban fighters patrol Kabul on August 19. After the Taliban takeover, employees of the collapsed government, civil society activists and women are among the at-risk Afghans who have gone into hiding or are staying off the streets. Photo: AP

Published: 3:30am, 26 Aug 2021

The Taliban’s capture of Kabul puts the two-decade-old Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) on the spot. The eight-member body brings together all relevant regional parties, including four nuclear powers, that have a huge stake in the stability of Afghanistan.

China, Russia, India and Pakistan are members of the SCO, while Iran is an observer. All of Afghanistan’s neighbours save for Turkmenistan are part of the grouping, and even Afghanistan itself is an observer. Thus, the US-led coalition’s exit from the Afghanistan quagmire raises expectations for the SCO to step up.

The Taliban offensive weeks ahead of the final deadline for the United States and other Western troops to withdraw from one of their longest and costliest engagements shocked many. The Afghan national army, which took coalition forces 20 years to build, train and equip, unravelled in weeks.

The evacuation of Western civilians, diplomats and soldiers drew striking parallels to the 1975 fall of Saigon that ended nearly two decades of brutal fighting in the Vietnam war.

In the region and beyond, the return to power of the militant Taliban movement evoked fears of potential adverse spillovers. Instability in Afghanistan has drawn regional countries together.

Last month, SCO foreign ministers met in Tajikistan’s capital, Dushanbe, to discuss the situation in Afghanistan. This month, Russia, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan held joint military exercises near the Afghan border. China and Russia also conducted joint anti-terror drills in Ningxia.