The killing of Osama bin Laden by U.S. special forces can trigger a backlash from his supporters and a “new wave of terror” across a giant area surrounding Afghanistan, a regional security body said on Saturday. Dominated by China and Russia, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) also unites the mostly Muslim ex-Soviet Central Asian states of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan and occupies three-fifths of Eurasia, populated by over 1.5 billion, or a quarter of the world’s population. “The recent elimination of terrorist No. 1 Osama bin Laden is beyond all doubt a success of the United States, but it is in no way a victory over international terrorism,” Kazakh Foreign Minister Yerzgan Kazykhanov told a meeting with his counterparts from the SCO states.
Oil-rich Kazakhstan, Central Asia’s most successful economy which lies between Russia and China, currently holds the rotating chair of the SCO, which some analysts have likened to a NATO-style grouping that could one day challenge the West. “Craving for revenge, the supporters of al Qaeda, the Taliban movement and other terrorist and extremist organisations may cause a new wave of terror as they attempt to avenge for the death of their leader,” Kazykhanov said. “In our view, the situation in Afghanistan will keep tension high in the region, remaining a source of terror, extremism and illegal trafficking of drugs and weapons.”
The SCO was founded in 2001 to boost regional security and promote economic cooperation among its members. But while fast-growing China has benefited from tapping Central Asia’s huge reserves of oil, gas and metals, Russia has seen its clout waning in its former imperial backyard. As access to Central Asia’s natural resources helps fuel China’s rapid economic growth, some other SCO members still live in penury which gives rise to social tension and radical Islam. Impoverished Kyrgyzstan saw its president deposed by a violent revolt in April last year. In June, 470 people were killed in ethnic riots in southern Kyrgyzstan.
Next-door Uzbekistan and Tajikistan have clamped down on dissenters and pious believers, saying they want to prevent an advent of radical, Taliban-style Islam. Afghan heroin streams to Russia across Central Asia’s porous borders, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters the 10th jubilee SCO summit to be held in Kazakhstan in June was set to approve an anti-drugs strategy for 2011-16. He also said Pakistan and India were seeking to become full SCO members, and the summit was expected to adopt criteria for granting permanent membership in the regional body. He declined to say when, or which of the two countries, could join the SCO.
