T he Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) marked its 10th anniversary last week at the annual leaders summit, this year held in Astana, Kazakhstan. The organization continues to mature.
While there are fears that the SCO could become a strategic counterweight to NATO, a more far-sighted approach is more accurate: The SCO can do good work if it provides stability to a region prone to instability. With the prospect of a U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan on the horizon, all efforts to provide support and security in Central Asia should be welcome.
The SCO was launched in 1996 as the "Shanghai Five"; members included China,Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan. The group focused on confidence-building measures and capacity building to stabilize unstable countries. In 2001,Uzbekistan joined and the SCO was born.