According to a new report by the Financial Times (FT), China has offered to build a road network for the Taliban if they can ensure peace in Afghanistan following the United States (US) military’s withdrawal from the country. FT quoted senior Pakistan-based tribal leaders with close ties to the group as saying that Beijing has offered “sizeable investments in energy and infrastructure projects” throughout the nation, which would help boost local commerce and trade.
Chinese officials reportedly continued to meet with Taliban representatives as US President Donald Trump’s administration began pulling its troops out of Afghanistan under the terms of the peace deal signed between the US and the group in February. However, any tangible progress towards peace talks has been stalled due to the resurgence of deadly Taliban attacks on Afghan security forces and civilians, and over disagreements regarding prisoner exchanges. US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad met with the Taliban’s new chief negotiator last week ahead of peace talks with the Afghan government, where issues relating to the prisoner exchange and intra-Afghan talks were discussed.
Pakistani intelligence sources told FT that China’s involvement with the Taliban could help nudge the extremists towards peace. China brings a unique approach by pushing the group to see the benefits of an economically revitalized Afghanistan and to recognize China as the only country in the region with the economic and financial capabilities needed to be relied on as a trustworthy partner and investor.
Beijing is protecting its own security interests by working to ensure stability in Afghanistan, given the country’s geographical proximity to its own Uighur Muslim-dominated Xinjiang province, an autonomous region in the north-west. China views the region as a hotbed and breeding ground for terrorism, separatism, and religious extremism. In recent years, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has arbitrarily detained between one and three million Uighurs accused of such charges in so-called “re-education centers” provoking international condemnation over horrific human rights abuses. China has also, through mass surveillance, essentially turned Xinjiang into a high-tech police state.
Given that the US and Afghan coalition have failed to curb insecurity in Afghanistan, China is being seen as perhaps the only credible way out of the quagmire, not only because of its economic strengths and contiguity to the war-torn country but also because of its strategic leverage over Pakistan.
China Offers Infrastructure Investment to the Taliban in Exchange for Peace in Afghanistan
Beijing is pushing the group to see the benefits of an economically revitalized Afghanistan, hoping that it will prevent further instability in the country.
September 9, 2020
SOURCE: SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST/REUTERS