Alwaght- The parliament speakers from China, Russia, Iran, Turkey, and Afghanistan held a Conference to discuss "the challenges of terrorism and inter-regional connectivity".

The six-nation Speakers' summit that begun on Sunday was hosted by Pakistan.

Earlier, the Asian parliament speakers participated at an annual conference titled Asian Parliamentary Assembly in Istanbul. But this is the first time that parliament speakers of several regional nations are holding a conference.

Pakistan’s advantages of hosting

The meeting of the six regional state’s heads of the parliament in Islamabad is of significance to the Pakistani position in the current conditions. Proposed by Pakistan, the meeting is expected to strengthen the Pakistani stance in the face of the new strategic policies of the American President Donald Trump in relation to Pakistan. In his new Afghanistan strategy unveiled in August, the American leader very explicitly accused Pakistan of supporting regional terrorism. Now, the counterterrorism meeting is widely seen to send a message of rejection of Trump’s anti-Pakistani posture.

By holding the meeting, the Pakistani government will garner the potentials for deepening its regional bonds to more strongly counter accusations directed against Islamabad by the US, India, and other regional and international parties.

How are the regional conditions significant in counterterrorism meeting?

On the other hand, the parliament speakers of the six nations are sitting around the table while highly decisive developments are taking place in the Syrian crisis case.

Of the six participating states, Russia, Iran, and Turkey are directly involved in the Syrian case. They initiated the Astana peace talks between the central Syrian government and a series of opposition groups. Participation of the three influential countries at a regional summit on how to fight terrorism will help synchronize the results of the past eight rounds of Astana negotiations with other regional developments. The Islamabad conference will also play an engaging role, rendering the Chinese, Pakistani, and Afghanistan’s stances on good terms with Astana initiative’s pro-peace efforts for the Syrian future.

Additionally, five participating countries—China, Russia, Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan— are permanent and observer members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. So, the objectives of the Islamabad conference can be, somehow, consistent with the SCO’s outlooks.

Turkey’s presence at the conference is also important. Ankara’s presence at a security summit in which the Western parties are not present bears witness to the two-year chilly climate overshadowing the relations and security cooperation of Turkey with the US and the European Union. By attending the meeting, Ankara signaled another sign that its frayed relations with the West are yet to be mended.

Various goals of the six participators

Each participating party at the conference is pursuing a set of ends. Certainly, if the six parties join their forces in form of an alliance, they can grease the wheels of movement towards the achievement of goals.

A counterterrorism alliance gathering together the regional states, excluding India as a traditional rival to Pakistan, will serve the interests of Islamabad. This is the secret behind Pakistan’s hosting of the summit. The same significance of such alliance also exists for Afghanistan whose plan is to take advantage of the help of the regional countries, particularly Pakistan, to facilitate negotiations and peace process between the central Afghan government and Taliban.

China is another gainer of the conference. Beijing leaders follow an economic agenda and even this security meeting helps them bolster their trade with the regional countries. After all, they aim at broadening the range of their trade ties though boost of political and security bonds with others. Russia and Iran want to bring the experience of their heavily successful partnership in Syria to the potential six-nation bloc. And for Turkey, a party whose relations with the West are troubled to a high degree, the presence at security and political conference with China and Russia will provide Ankara a scope for showcasing its discontentment with the US and the EU.

In case of continuation, the counterterrorism conference will help materialize the relatively-consistent objectives of the six nations. Moreover, the conference's regional nature is an emphasis on rejection of the Western presence and intervention in the region. In fact, the regional states want to highlight the point that combating terrorism and securing the region is a job of internal, not external, actors.

Therefore, the six-state parliament speakers’ conference is expected to play a crucial role towards sustainable security once the participating nations adopt more cohesive stances. Facilitation of more joint work is possible by the parliaments whose bills are crucially decisive in the governments’ decisions and measures. Having in mind that these countries’ parliaments differ in terms of the size of power and form of structure, it does not look appropriate to expect the conference to yield tangible results at the initial stages. Such a conference will come out with maximally successful regional counterterrorism results for its members if the parliamentary cooperation makes its way to these countries’ governments.