New Game In Afghanistan: Fulfil Strategic Ambitions Of Imperial Powers And Facilitate Loot For Their Corporates

March 10, 2021

Using Pakistan’s influence, China is keen to access the mineral wealth of Afghanistan by integrating it into the Belt and Road Initiative and also protect its own soft underbelly in Xinjiang province. The proposed change in the US policy is a shot in the arm of Ashraf Ghani and a setback to theambitions of the Taliban.

Peace in the wartorn Afghanistan would remain a distant dream, as foreign forces are unlikely to exit any time soon and external influences would continue to fuel instability and violence there.

The Joe Biden administration understands that if the US and other allies withdrew from Afghanistan by May 1, 2021, as envisaged in the Doha agreement of February 29 last year, China, a challenging economic and military power, would consolidate its position there. In fact, the hope for lasting peace evaporated not long after the agreement, as the Taliban stepped up violence in the last quarter of 2020 for a better bargain during negotiations with the Ashraf Ghani government. But at the same time, it ensured that no harm came to foreign forces so that there was no excuse for the US to unilaterally withdraw from the agreement.

But this is what the US and its allies seem to be planning. Before doing so, the US needed to consult North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) countries, who also have a significant presence there. It was then logical that the US secretary of defence Lloyd J Austin made his first call on assuming office to the NATO general secretary, Jens Stoltenberg.

Later, briefing the media on February 19, a day after the first virtual conference of NATO defence ministers, Austin echoed the sentiments of his president that the organisation faces “challenges, including a resurgent Russia’s disruptive technologies, climate change, the ongoing war in Afghanistan, the  persistent threat of terrorism, and an increasingly aggressive China”. On Afghanistan, Austin clarified that no decision about the future force posture had been made.

Earlier, on January 28, US secretary of state Antony Blinken spoke to Afghan president Ashraf Ghani and hinted that the US was reviewing the February 2020 agreement to determine whether the Taliban were living up to their commitments to cut ties with terrorist groups, reduce violence and to engage meaningfully with the Afghan government. The same message was repeated a day later by the White House national security advisor Jake Sullivan to his counterpart in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, in anticipation of the US withdrawal, China had synchronized its position with that of Pakistan on Afghanistan. In the joint statement issued after the meeting between the foreign ministers of China and Pakistan on August 22, 2020, China appreciated Pakistan’s contribution to the Afghan peace process. Returning the favour, Pakistan supported

“China’s core interests and issues of major concern, such as those related to Taiwan, Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong”. Using Pakistan’s influence, China is keen to access the mineral wealth of Afghanistan by integrating it into the Belt and Road Initiative and also protect its own soft underbelly in Xinjiang province. The proposed change in the US policy is a shot in the arm of Ashraf Ghani and a setback to the ambitions of the Taliban.

Courtesy: ET