By Muhammad Zulqarnain

Pakistan's assumption of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation's Council of Heads of State chairmanship for 2026-27 has brought regional connectivity and Afghan stability into sharper focus as Islamabad prepares to lead the grouping over the coming year and host its next summit in 2027.

Pakistan assumed the chairmanship after regional leaders concluded the 26th SCO Summit in Bishkek by adopting the Bishkek Declaration. The August 31-September 1 summit also approved amendments to the organisation's charter and brought together leaders of its 10 member states.

Experts say Pakistan can use its chairmanship to promote regional connectivity alongside stronger counterterrorism cooperation and greater stability in Afghanistan, where persistent security challenges continue to constrain the potential for overland trade between Pakistan and Central Asia.

The economic stakes extend well beyond diplomacy. The SCO covers approximately 36 million square kilometres and represents around 3.4 billion people, providing Pakistan with a large regional framework within which to pursue trade, transport and energy connectivity.

Pakistan occupies an important geographical position between the landlocked Central Asian republics and the Arabian Sea, while Afghanistan provides the most direct transit route connecting the two regions.

Afghan crossings, including Hairatan, Sher Khan Bandar and Torkham, offer important gateways between Pakistan and Central Asia. Their economic potential was reflected in Pakistan-Afghanistan transit traffic of approximately $4.4 billion in 2020-21, although security and border disruptions have since sharply constrained bilateral trade.

Speaking to Wealth Pakistan, Pakistan's former ambassador Masood Khan described the country as a vital link connecting South Asia, Central Asia, West Asia and western China, and identified the SCO as an important vehicle for transport facilitation, sustainable development and regional peace.

He said Pakistan's challenge during its SCO chairmanship would be to connect counterterrorism cooperation with a broader concept of regional security encompassing water, climate, energy and resilient infrastructure.

A peaceful and economically connected Afghanistan would be particularly important for unlocking Pakistan's connectivity potential with Central Asia, experts said, as persistent instability and cross-border security threats continue to affect the reliability of regional transport and trade routes.

Haris Malik, Research Associate at the China-Pakistan Study Centre of the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad, said the Bishkek Summit was strategically important because regional security and economic connectivity had become increasingly interconnected.

“Pakistan should take a dual-track approach: secure the neighbourhood and connect the region,” he said, adding that terrorism should not be allowed to hold regional connectivity hostage, while new transport and energy corridors must be supported by adequate security arrangements.

Malik said Pakistan should seek enhanced intelligence and counterterrorism cooperation with China, Russia and the Central Asian states.

At the same time, he said, Pakistan should push for practical arrangements covering transit trade, customs procedures, railway and road links and energy cooperation so that security disruptions did not repeatedly interrupt regional commerce.

He particularly emphasised strengthening the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) through more systematic intelligence-sharing on terrorist networks, financing, recruitment and cross-border movement.

“The SCO should move from broad declarations towards mechanisms that produce measurable security outcomes,” he said.

Malik said Pakistan's ports offered the Central Asian republics access to the Arabian Sea, while routes through Afghanistan could connect Pakistani businesses with Central Asian markets.

He noted that the May 2026 Pakistan-China Joint Statement supported Gwadar's development as a regional connectivity hub and stronger land connectivity through the Khunjerab Pass.

Ayesha Khan, Assistant Professor, Department of Governance & Public Policy, National University of Modern Languages (NUML), said Pakistan's chairmanship of SCO-RATS during 2025-26 had provided an opportunity to push the organisation from broad counterterrorism commitments towards operational cooperation focused on threats originating from Afghanistan.

She proposed a standing SCO mechanism for Afghanistan-related threat assessments, including regular intelligence briefings on the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and Islamic State Khorasan Province networks, cross-border movements, terrorist financing, recruitment and online propaganda.

Khan said China and Russia could facilitate greater intelligence-sharing and technical assistance, while RATS could establish a dedicated database on threats from Afghanistan, improve real-time exchanges among security agencies and coordinate border-security and counterterrorism exercises.

“The real test is whether the Bishkek process creates measurable deliverables — shared intelligence, joint assessments, coordinated border measures and actionable alerts — rather than another political declaration,” she said.

Credit: INP-WealthPk