steve hynd notes that the taliban is appealing to the shanghai cooperation organization to resolve the afghan conflict.
it's an interesting move in that the SCO is dominated by china and russia. it's not a muslim organization or an organization of muslim countries as one would expect islamic fundamentalists to favor. although it was created to be a counterweight to NATO, the SCO hasn't done much more than hold summits and issue joint communiques. if it does take up the taliban's offer and try to mediate, this will be the first time that the SCO does anything significant about an issue beyond its member-states' borders.
if the SCO really is to be a world player instead of just a regional cooperation group, it will take the taliban up on its offer. but that only works if it's member states can agree to get involved. all of the member states (except, i think, kazakhstan) have had problems with militants that trained with al qaeda in taliban-ruled afghanistan. i don't know how the taliban can get around that.
