SCO holds joint anti-terrorism exercise in 2021

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)'s member states held a joint anti-terrorism exercise in Pakistan from Sept 21 to Oct 4.

The joint exercise, entitled "Pabbi-Antiterror-2021," came amid increasingly complex international and regional security situation, with the situation in Afghanistan suddenly changing, and the three forces of terrorism, separatism and extremism trying to take advantage of chaos and infiltrate the SCO region.

The exercise was conducted in two stages, during which the SCO member states first conducted simulated exchanging, sharing, collection and evaluation of anti-terrorism intelligence within their own borders, and then carried out joint anti-terrorism exercises, including sniping action, indoor counter-terrorism action and hostage rescue.

This was the first time for China's anti-terrorism law enforcement forces to participate with live ammunition abroad in a joint anti-terrorism exercise by the competent authorities of the SCO member states.

The decision to hold the joint exercise was announced during the 36th meeting of the Council of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.