US, NATO Try to Deny Daesh Terrorist Group’s Presence in Afghanistan: Lavrov

"We are alarmed as unfortunately, the US and NATO military in Afghanistan makes every effort to silence and deny [the ISIL group’s presence in Afghanistan]," Lavrov told reporters after talks with his Pakistani counterpart Khawaja Muhammad Asif, TASS news agency reported.

"We have very serious suspicions over the measures that the NATO coalition in Afghanistan is using to curb this threat," he noted.

"According to our data, the ISIL presence in northern and eastern Afghanistan is rather serious, there are already thousands of gunmen," Lavrov said. "This increases the risk of the terrorists’ penetration to Central Asia and it is not that difficult to get to Russia."

Lavrov stressed the need to step up efforts to prevent this scenario. "The Shanghai Cooperation Organization, where Pakistan and India have full-fledged membership, is represented by all key neighbors of Afghanistan and Afghanistan is taking part as an observer at the SCO," he said.

The SCO’s regional anti-terror body may take steps to thwart the ISIL growing influence in Afghanistan, Lavrov added.

Lavrov also called for reforming this SCO body so that it could also combat drug trafficking. "Unfortunately, the years-long presence of the US and NATO in Afghanistan has not reduced the terrorist threat, while the drug threat has grown manyfold."

The Declaration on the Establishment of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization was inked in China’s Shanghai in June 2001 by six founding states - Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. On June 9, 2017 India and Pakistan became full-fledged members of the SCO.

Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia currently enjoy observer status while Sri Lanka, Turkey, the Azerbaijan Republic, Armenia, Cambodia and Nepal are dialogue partners.