What Can the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and China Bring to Post-2014 Afghanistan?

Amid the reduction of US forces in Afghanistan, the search for solutions to the Afghanistan security conundrum calls for regional coordination. Despite limited achievements in the past, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) may be an important contributor to stability in Afghanistan. The SCO brings together powerful regional players (Russia and China) and important neighboring states whose strategic interests are intertwined in Afghanistan. All of them are potential stakeholders in providing regional solutions. In this article we suggest that the role of the SCO would lie in not only regionalizing Afghanistan policymaking but also promoting the country’s integration into a regional framework of common interests.