World | Pakistan
Musharraf urges SCO to join Nato in Afghanistan
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said yesterday he would welcome a Central Asian grouping that includes China and Russia working alongside Nato to bring peace and stability to Afghanistan.
- Agencies
- Published: 23:58 April 14, 2008
Beijing: Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said yesterday he would welcome a Central Asian grouping that includes China and Russia working alongside Nato to bring peace and stability to Afghanistan.
"In a joint cooperative effort, if the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation) can do something, it should come forward and cooperate toward the security of Afghanistan. I'm for it," Musharraf said at a speech at Beijing's Tsinghua University.
But "if the SCO can come along, then we would need to ensure that there is no confrontation with Nato," he added.
The SCO, which also includes the former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, would need to be committed to Afghanistan's stability for such a joint effort to work, Musharraf said.
Oil pipelines
Musharraf arrived in China on Friday for a regional economic forum in southern China and has held talks with President Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao.
Pakistan and Afghanistan are SCO observer nations, along with other regional countries like Mongolia, Iran and India.
Musharraf, meanwhile, is pushing for the construction of gas and oil pipelines between his country and China to bolster bilateral ties, he said yesterday, during a visit that has highlighted security concerns.
"Pakistan is very much in favour of a pipeline between the Gulf and China through Pakistan, and I have been speaking about this with your leadership," Musharraf told a gathering of students and academics in Beijing.
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