Lt Gen HR McMaster, the former US National Security Adviser, told a Policy Exchange seminar this week that Pakistan should be treated as a “pariah state” if it did not stop its support for jihadi groups. The belief among strategists was that Pakistan wanted a stake in Afghanistan to ensure it did not end up with a pro-India government. Those links, so it is claimed, at times turned into significant material and logistical support. The country’s military and intelligence establishment maintained links with Islamist groups in Afghanistan like the Taliban. Many have long accused it in the US and elsewhere of providing support for the Taliban, something it denies. All have not seen Pakistan as a firm ally in the battle against jihadist terrorism. Former ambassador to Afghanistan Yao Jing stated in 2016, “Without Afghan connectivity, there is no way to connect China with the rest of the world.” Afghanistan is also strategically located within the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), with Chinese ambitions to connect to Iran via railways, energy corridors, and other infrastructure projects. On the strategic front, Afghanistan as the graveyard of empires and a swamp representing a failure of US foreign policy signifies a critical arena within great-power competition. It also fears terrorism gaining a hold in Afghanistan, for example, in the form of the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM), in the interest of its homeland security and territorial integrity. This relationship springs from China’s economic and security interests in Afghanistan. Following the pull-out of the US-led forces from Afghanistan, China has emerged as one of the first nations to advance diplomatic channels with the Taliban. Pakistan’s track record in aiding terrorism was unlikely to win the Taliban international approval shortly.Ĭhina’s interests in Afghanistan. Pakistan and China appear to have played a critical role in shaping the Taliban’s position in the US-Taliban deal and ensuing takeover of Afghanistan. In 2019, Mullah Baradar was part of the delegation to China and later headed the delegation of talks held between the US and Taliban at Doha. While Pakistan has been the creator and supporter of the Taliban for a long, China jumped into the fray in 2019 and sympathised with the Taliban. The radicalisation of the Pakistani military and Talibanisation in Afghanistan may pose significant threats than opportunities to China in future. China’s involvement in the wars in South Asia has to face two fronts one to fight the rivalry of India and the US and the threat posed by the terrorism to Internal Security by the Islamic Terrorism. Though China is Pakistan’s all-weather friend yet, Pakistan is also a battleground for China for encounters with Islamic terrorism-which has got a boost with the Taliban in power in Afghanistan. Through Pakistan, China wants to fulfil geostrategic drives viz to take-off as a global naval power and connect a new silk road with the energy fields of the Middle East and the markets of Europe. For Pakistan, China is the biggest hope of economic development and military support. The prospects for India rises after the withdrawal of the US-led troops ranging from the concern about the threat of nuclear terrorism to ports, mines, pipelines, etc. The geopolitical situation has changed, and China, Pakistan and Afghanistan play an essential role in the geopolitics in Central Asia. China is aggressive, the US and the western world are regressive, India is cleverly on wait and watch strategy, Russia has expressed its neutrality, and the world is in dilemma what to do? Indeed, these developments have raised concerns in India as well as in the world community.
India was not taken into confidence on all aspects of the deal signed by the US and the Taliban last year, and it still is not clear whether Afghanistan will have an inclusive government or whether Afghan soil will not be used for terror, external affairs minister S Jaishankar said on Thursday. India was not in the loop of the US and Taliban peace talks. The abrupt withdrawal of US-led forces from Afghanistan created a vacuum. The significant priorities are ensuring that Afghanistan’s soil should not be used to ferment and spread terrorism and have an inclusive government. Recent development in Afghanistan has generated understandable concerns in the region and beyond.
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