KABUL (Pajhwok): No delegation from Afghanistan is participating in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Uzbekistan.
The SCO does not have official ties with Afghanistan, Rahmatulla Nurimbetov, Uzbekistan's national coordinator, told reporters in Samarkand on Wednesday.
Interfax quoted Nurimbetov as saying: "Afghanistan will not be represented at the summit in Samarkand. The SCO is temporarily not maintaining ties with that country."
Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, China, Pakistan and India are part of SCO, which was founded in 2001.
Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia are SCO observers. Azerbaijan, Armenia, Cambodia, Nepal, Turkey and Sri Lanka are its partners.
Samarkand, the capital of Uzbekistan, is hosting the two-day meeting, scheduled to begin today. The situation in Afghanistan is expected to come up for discussion.
PAN Monitor/mud
