What Putin Said on Terrorism During SCO Summit

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday called for increased cooperation to combat terrorism and drug trafficking at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit.

The summit, which was hosted by India, was also attended by the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Iran.

In his address to the summit, Putin said that terrorism had become a "serious threat" to regional and global security. He called on the SCO to "strengthen its efforts" to combat terrorism and extremism.

Modi echoed Putin's remarks, saying that terrorism was a "common enemy" that must be defeated. He called for expanding mutual cooperation between SCO member states to deal with the threat of terrorism.

The SCO summit also discussed the situation in Afghanistan. Putin said that the situation in Afghanistan was "regrettably not becoming better." He called on the SCO to work together to "stabilize" the situation in Afghanistan and to prevent the country from becoming a safe haven for terrorists.

The SCO is a regional security organization that was founded in 2001. It has eight member states: China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Pakistan. The SCO has been active in combating terrorism and drug trafficking in its member states.

The virtual summit was held under India's presidency of the SCO. India will hand over the presidency of the SCO to China in September 2023.