MOSCOW. Nov 1 (Interfax) - First deputy head of the Russian government office Sergei Prikhodko has underscored the need to step up interaction within the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and contacts between the SCO and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) to counter risks coming from Afghanistan and threats posed by militants' return from Syria.
Speaking in the run-up to Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev's November 1-2 visit to Tashkent to attend a meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of Government, Prikhodko outlined his vision on SCO-CSTO interaction in resisting terrorist threats and said what steps Russia and other members of the organization believe can be taken to normalize the situation in Afghanistan.
"The danger of the threats of terrorism, extremism, drug trafficking, and cross-border organized crime spreading from the territory of Afghanistan to SCO countries remains relevant, especially in light of the strengthening of the Afghan wing of Islamic State [ISIL, terrorist group banned in Russia]. According to various estimates, up to 10,000 ISIL militants are currently present in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, with most of them concentrating in its northern and eastern provinces, a circumstance that directly projects on security in countries of Central Asia," he said.
Russia "has been making efforts to facilitate a peace process in Afghanistan, including by supporting meetings of the intra-Afghan dialogue [which involves a wide range of Afghan public and political forces and Taliban representatives], the work of the mechanisms of consultative meetings of special envoys for Afghanistan in the 'Three plus' format of Russia, the U.S., China, and Pakistan," he said.
In this context, this process should be "largely aided" by the SCO-Afghanistan Contact Group's roadmap, which was adopted at the SCO summit in Bishkek on June 14 and includes joint security, economic, and humanitarian steps, Prikhodko said.
"The situation in Afghanistan is by no means the only incentive for deepening interaction between the SCO and the CSTO. It is necessary to work out comprehensive measures to counter risks that emerge due to the situation in the Middle East, above all in Syria. For instance, I'm speaking about the return of foreign militants and terrorists from the conflict zone," he said.
The Taliban movement is a terrorist group banned in Russia.