Afghanistan remains the main source of terrorism in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization space. The Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolay Patrushev has announced today in Bishkek at the 14th annual meeting of the secretaries of the Security Councils of the SCO member countries.
“The main source of terrorism in the SCO area remains the territory of Afghanistan. The situation in this country continues to deteriorate. The Government loses its influence as the competent center of control of the state’s political system. The country is leaving a foreign business. Foreign investors are significantly reducing financial support for the economy”, he emphasized.
According to Patrushev, the terrorists consider the SCO member states, primarily the countries of Central Asia, as a recruiting base for replenishing their ranks and spreading radical Islamist ideology.
The most serious security threat in this sense is the activity of ISIL (banned in the Russian Federation), "which declares itself increasingly louder in the terrorist attacks in Afghanistan".
According to Patrushev, now in the Islamic Republic, there are about 2.5 to 4 thousand militants of ISIL.
GSV "Russia - Islamic world"
Photo by Сергей Карпухин/ТАСС