China and Afghanistan in the Process of Deep Relationships
In his foreign policy President Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, on his first state visit abroad, gave priority to the strategic relationships with Beijing.
While Afghanistan signed strategic agreements with the China’s main competitors (the U.S. and India), what does President Ahmadzai want to prove by giving priority to the strategic relationships with China? Overall, selecting China for the president’s first foreign trip has special goals.
President Ahmadzai, in his four-day trip to China, signed various agreements with China, and he also gave a speech in the fourth Heart of Asia conference.
Background
Since last 60 years Afghanistan and China have formal diplomatic relations with each other. The Afghan-Chinese relations expanded while China’s relations with Russia entered dark stages; though by the coup d’etat of Sardar Dawood Khan both the countries did not trust each other, but the diplomatic forces led by Dawood Khan recovered those relationships.
Up to some extent, China remained neutral during the Afghan Civil War; but after the collapse of the Taliban regime in 2001 China got interest to expand its relationships with Afghanistan, and its interest to Afghanistan was expressed in 2007, while China won the bid of the Ainak Copper Mine with 3 billion dollars.
The New Phase of Afghan-Chinese Relations
President Ahmadzai’s trip to China will open the new phase of Afghan-Chinese relations. The new phase of the relationship is in such a situation that NATO and the U.S. withdraw their forces, except a few numbers of them that will stay in their bases, from Afghanistan, which will, to some extent, cause lack of forces in the country. China sees the lack of forces as an opportunity to take its primary steps for further involvement in Afghanistan.
As President Xi Jinping came to the airport for welcoming President Ahmadzai, it expresses its value for Afghanistan in the upcoming years. Though since 2001 China donated 200 million dollars to Afghanistan, but in this trip China promised 330 million dollar aid to Afghanistan in the upcoming years.
Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai in this trip, on one hand, opened a new phase for the bilateral relations; on the other hand, he attempted to create a concrete foundation for the long term relations between the two countries. President Ahmadzai expressed to President Xi Jinping that Afghanistan will have short term, midterm and long term relations with China. So the Chinese President also expressed that Afghanistan is a historical friend of China.
Badakhshan Province has 85km border with Sinkiang of China. As currently insecurity in Badakhshan decreased, so China is afraid of cooperating Chinese freedom fighter Muslims through Badakhshan, therefore it is enthusiastic for expansion of relations and cooperation with Kabul.
Currently the strategic relations will increase and will have long term influence on both the countries.
Relations with China from International and Regional Dimension
Since last few years China is working on its Western Policy, in which he also paid attention to the Silk Way. This way is built on the old ideology and wants to connect China with Eurasia and Europe. The new way will be through ocean and land, though Afghanistan does not have direct role in this way, either by land or by ocean, still Chinese President mentioned it many times that Afghanistan will also take advantages from this way.
In addition, the Chinese Prime Minister also told President Ahmadzai that China is working on its Western Policy, therefore it want to play an important role in the railways, highways, water and electricity projects in Afghanistan. Overall, the Western Policy of China plays an important role for paying its attention to Afghanistan.
While the Holbrooke Relations of Karzai and Obama entered to a darken stage, former president Hamid Karzai turned its face toward improving its relations with China. Therefore, accordingly Karzai started trips, and he was trying to involve China in the economy of Afghanistan. Though he did not succeed that much in his mission and was not able to involve China in the economy of the country; still, to some extent, he build political relations with China.
China is also interested to peace and security in Afghanistan and it think that a strong Afghanistan will be beneficial for its security and economy.
On the other hand, since 2001 India gained its diplomatic successions in Afghanistan, and caused failure of its opponent country (Pakistan) to some extent. Pakistan feels that the increasing activities of India in Afghanistan are a treat to Pakistan’s security. Accordingly sometimes the high ranking officials of Pakistan expressed their ideas, and they are especially afraid of the Indian trained Afghan Army.
As India entered the economic sector of Afghanistan and it is training Afghan Army, so Pakistan will welcome the improvement of Afghan-Chinese relations, and it hopes that China will replace the activities of India. Related to that, on October 19th in Pakistan there was a two-day conference named (China-Pakistan-Afghanistan) held by Pak-China Institute. The conference was held by the Pakistani Upper House Member Mushahid Hussain in which the Pakistani National Security Advisor Sartaj Aziz, Chinese Ambassador in Pakistan, Afghan diplomats, Chinese analysts, and professors participated. And it was an important conference for the relations of the three mentioned countries.
On the other hand, since a long time the U.S. also want that China should enter to Afghanistan militarily, but, even, that time Chinese expressed their denial to the U.S.’s hope of China to militarily enter Afghanistan. As currently Beijing was the host of an important conference about Afghanistan; though the U.S. has many disputes with China about Iran and Eastern Asia, still the defense minister of the U.S. appreciated the mentioned attempts of China.
Same as the U.S., India also has complexity in its relations with China and it is one of the local competitors of China; but India is also, to some extent, agreed about Afghanistan, and their high ranking officials had many internal meetings related to this issue. On the other hand, Afghan President also tries to keep the balance of its relations with superpowers like China, India, and the U.S. in the upcoming years.
The ‘Heart of Asia’ Conference – Istanbul Process
The Istanbul Process has started in 2011, which its first conference was held in Istanbul of Turkey, second one was held in Kabul, third one in Kazakhstan, and the fourth one in the capital of China Beijing on October 31, 2014, and members of 14 countries including Iran, India, and Pakistan Participated in it.
The process was started for mutual interests, cooperating each other, and struggling against the mutual risks and challenges, in the conference President Ahmadzai gave priority to the peace in the country, and said that in the upcoming decade he will make Afghanistan the ground for Asian cooperation.
Afghan President also spoke with the Chines Officials about the Afghan Peace prior to the conference, and it seems that in addition to Turkey and Saudi, President Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai also wants to force Pakistan by China, so it will pave the way for inter-Afghani peace process. The Chines President also promised for paving the way for trust between Afghanistan and Pakistan for the peace process.
Since the beginning of the Istanbul Process there are hopes arisen that those conferences will coordinate the peace and security of Afghanistan; because through those conferences, the interests of the neighboring countries will become mutual and same.
The End