State-State Cooperation within Regional, Global framework Key to dealing with Terror Networks

Speaking at Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit, president Ashraf Ghani said that state to state cooperation within a regional and global framework is key to dealing with all terrorist networks attempting to disrupt peace, progress and cooperation.
Addressing the heads of SCO states on Tuesday evening, President Ghani said that by location, history outlook and choice, Afghanistan is poised to provide a platform for regional and global cooperation, especially by connecting Central, South and West Asia to and from East Asia by land.

On the activities of terrorist networks in Afghanistan, he said: “We are living, and dying, inside the 5th wave of global terrorism, in which global terrorist networks are closely linked with global criminal organizations – particularly drug and human traffickers—making warfare totally unconventional and peace-building even more challenging”.

According to him. although Afghanistan is facing multiple forms of turmoil, peace remains the most urgent and important priority.
“As a state and society, we have demonstrated the commitment, compassion and courage to make hard decisions to start direct peace negotiations with the Taliban,” he said, adding that “Unfortunately, not only the promised reduction of violence and comprehensive ceasefire has not been realized, but the violence by the Taliban has increased substantially”.

Mr Ghani also said that he is ready to deal with the regional and global challenge of drug addiction with a true sense of urgency as it has become a serious problem in the Afghan society.
The SCO summit council was held via video conference with the participation of heads of States.