China's President Hu Jintao (3rd L) poses with leaders during a group photo session at a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Shanghai June 15, 2006. The leaders include (from L-R) Russia's President Vladimir Putin, Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kyrgyzstan's President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, Tajikistan's President Imomali Rakhmonov, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf and Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai. (Elizabeth Dalzie/Pool/Reuters)
US: Shanghai group 'contradictory' on 'terror'
Thu Jun 15, 9:28 PM ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States pointed out what it called contradictions between the goals and work of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, but stopped short of calling it anti-American.
Shanghai summit comprising China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan and observers: India,
Iran Mongolia and Pakistan.
"Certainly, having Iran there as an observer -- Iran, the world's largest or most significant state sponsor of terrorism -- again runs counter to the idea that this is a group dedicated in part to countering terrorism in the region." --State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.
SCO's importance also has grown with skyrocketing oil prices because it includes major oil producers as well as China, which has emerged as one of the fastest-growing energy consumers. Other big consumers like India are also attending the summit as observers. Regional analysts told the Herald Tribune the Shanghai Cooperation Organization is emerging as yet another player in a crowded web of diplomatic and military ties
"The SCO is an important and influential international and regional organization. Its member countries have an aggregate population exceeding more than half the world's population," he said.
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