MOSCOW, June 24 (HS/RIA Novosti) - Afghanistan's interaction with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is blocked due to objections from one of its members, Russian Special Presidential Representative for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov said.

Of course, they would like to become full members. Formally, they are, but due to the objections of one member of the SCO, where all decisions are made by consensus, this process has not yet begun, Kabulov told Russian newspaper Izvestia on Tuesday.

Sources told the newspaper that Pakistan could be blocking Afghanistan's closer interaction with the organization. A long-standing territorial conflict persists between the two countries, which has escalated in the past year, the report recalled.

On June 10, Russian Special Representative for SCO Bakhtiyor Khakimov said that Afghanistan's full accession to the SCO is hampered by the procedure for official recognition of its authorities by other countries.

The SCO was founded in 2001. It is made up of Belarus, China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Armenia, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Cambodia, Egypt, Kuwait, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates are its partner states.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Indrani Sarkar