Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu warned SCO member states at the 21st Meeting of Secretaries of SCO Security Councils in Bishkek that Afghanistan remains a critical security concern, citing unresolved terrorism and narcotics threats spilling across its borders.
Shoigu told the gathering that between 18,000 and 23,000 militants belonging to more than 20 different groups are currently operating inside Afghanistan. He said the Islamic State alone numbers around 3,000 members and carried out 12 major terrorist attacks in 2025, killing 40 military servicemen and 25 civilians and wounding more than 50 people.
Shoigu warned of a growing influx of Uyghur, Tajik, and Uzbek militants moving from Syria into Afghanistan from groups formerly linked to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, noting that Taliban security agencies have organised monitoring of arriving radicals but that some Islamists remain outside Afghan security services’ purview.
On narcotics, Shoigu warned that synthetic drug production has expanded significantly, with more than 30 tonnes of methamphetamine seized along Afghanistan’s borders with neighbouring countries in 2025. He noted that around four million Afghans remain tied to narcotics cultivation due to severe economic conditions inside the country.
Shoigu acknowledged that Kabul is waging an active armed struggle against the Islamic State, but his overall assessment made clear that Moscow views Afghanistan’s security situation as far from settled, with transnational militant networks and synthetic drug flows posing escalating risks to the broader SCO region.
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