China pushes for greater SCO role in Afghanistan

China signaled that it will push the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) to carve out a greater role in Afghanistan as NATO forces prepare for an eventual withdrawal, Financial Times reported. “We will insist that regional powers call the shots in regional affairs, prevent turbulences from outside the region, and play a bigger role in the peaceful reconstruction of Afghanistan,” Chinese President Hu Jintao said Wednesday, as the SCO began its summit in Beijing. Afghan President Hamid Karzai was also in Beijing for the summit, where he is expected to elevate Sino-Afghan relations to a “strategic partnership” and achieve “observer” status at the SCO. “For the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Karzai’s visit means that the important of the Afghanistan issue has increased,” said Zhao Huasheng, director of the Centre for Russian and Central Asian Studies at Shanghai’s Fudan University. “It also means that, naturally, the Afghanistan question has become the SCO’s responsibility, and it provides a better basis for cooperation in security, traffic infrastructure and energy.”