Founded on the tenet of defending regional peace and stability, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) has embarked on a long-term campaign against the "three evil forces" and is poised to continue efforts to promote security cooperation.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai, left front, is greeted by a Chinese girl upon his arrival at the Pudong International Airport in Shanghai, east China on June 14, 2006. Karzai is here to attend the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization as guest of the host country. [Xinhua]

At the Thursday summit which marks the fifth anniversary of theSCO's establishment, presidents of the six SCO member states are expected to sign important documents on the promotion of the partnership in security, said SCO Secretary-General Zhang Deguang at a news conference in Beijing ahead of the summit.

In April, the defense ministers of the SCO countries announced plans for an anti-terrorist exercise in Russia next year, which would be the largest-ever joint military exercise compared with the previous three.

The regional group, which consists of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, originated and grew from the Shanghai Five mechanism, which was founded in 1996 by China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan with the aim of strengthening confidence-building, carrying out cuts in armed forces in their border areas and promoting regional cooperation.

On the day when the SCO was founded, the six heads of state signed the Shanghai Pact on fighting terrorism, separatism and extremism. The SCO is one of the earliest international organizations that hold the anti-terror banner.

A regional anti-terror agency was launched in Tashkent, capital of Uzbekistan, during the 2004 SCO summit to coordinate SCO members' efforts in fighting the "three evil forces" -- terrorism, separatism and extremism.

In line with the agreement on strengthening mutual trust, China has, through equal consultation, settled historical disputes with Russia and its central Asian neighbors along the common borders stretching at least 7,000 km.

In recent years, the SCO has done a lot of substantial work in defense and security area.

Within the SCO framework, China and Russia held their first joint military exercises, code-named "Peace Mission 2005" last August.

The one-week maneuvers, which involved 10,000 troops from the two countries, started in Vladivostok in Russia's Far East and later moved to China's Shandong Peninsula.

In addition to enhancing trust and friendship between the two countries, the drills also demonstrated the determination and confidence of both armies to counter new challenges and threats in the new situations.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov has said SCO military exercises are "very necessary" in view of the fact that international terrorist activities are on the rise and terrorist are equipped with more modern types of weapons.

Meanwhile, the SCO members are trying to boost cooperation in information exchange and judicial assistance.

Battling the "three evil forces" on the one hand, the SCO also has to focus on cracking down on drug trafficking as well as related crimes such as money laundering and weapons smuggling on the other.

Since Afghanistan shares common borders with a few Central Asian countries, the region has become a crucial transit route for drug smugglers traveling from Afghanistan to Europe and other parts of the world.

To tackle the issue of common concern, the SCO set up a liaison group in November 2005 between the SCO and Afghanistan and promised to actively take part in establishing an "anti-drug zone¡± around Afghanistan and in its economic reconstruction.

As a guest of the host country, Afghan President Hamid Karzai will attend the Shanghai summit on Thursday.

Though the SCO is trying to flex its muscles in the security field, Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing has stressed that the SCO "does not target any third party."

"The SCO organization will not turn into a new military-political alliance," said Russian Defense Minister Ivanov during his latest trip to Beijing, where he attended an SCO meeting on par with his SCO counterparts.