RATS Anti-Terrorism Summit to Conclude
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s (SCO) Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) meeting is scheduled to conclude today. The meeting began on May 16 in New Delhi with a focus on the increase of terrorist activities in Afghanistan.
The SCO consists of council and government members from China, India, Pakistan and other Eurasian nations. India—who currently holds the RATS chairmanship—hosted the November 2021 SCO summit and is set to host additional meetings later this year.
This week’s gathering was aimed at boosting cooperation between Afghanistan’s neighboring countries during times of intensifying transnational terrorism and internal humanitarian issues. Particular emphasis was placed on the rise of narcotics smuggling and the weapons trade in Afghanistan, alongside the threat of terrorist groups active in the Taliban-ruled regions.
Expect India to lead dialogue between the SCO members for the remainder of 2022 as they continue to host meetings on Eurasian security and humanitarian concerns. SCO members already demonstrated progress in conventional military force interoperability following successful anti-terrorism drills in October last year. Although China and India’s unsteady relationship may hinder cooperation between SCO synergy, Pakistan-India relations were seen to slightly improve recently as terrorist-based activities mobilize in Afghanistan.
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