China expands its role in Afghanistan, Pakistan

[farhan_9909]

KABUL: China has promised to help build a hydroelectric power plant in a violent Afghan border region, as well as road and rail links to Pakistan, in the latest sign it is taking a more active role in Afghanistan.

The assistance will include an unspecified amount of financing, an Afghan foreign ministry spokesman, Sirajul Haq Siraj, said on Tuesday, a day after senior Afghan, Chinese and Pakistani diplomats met in Kabul.

“China agreed to support relevant initiatives for projects including the Kunar hydropower plant and strengthening road and rail connections between Afghanistan and Pakistan,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a daily news briefing in Beijing.

The planned 1,500 megawatt dam on the Kunar River, was previously supported only by Pakistan, which could buy some of the electricity it generates.

In 2013, Pakistan said it would also build a motorway connecting the Pakistani city of Peshawar to Kabul, as well as a railway line from Chaman, on the Pakistani side of Afghanistan's southeastern border to the southern Afghan city of Kandahar.

Kunar is one of Afghanistan's most active battlefields, with deep valleys and forests near the Pakistan border providing cover for different factions of the Taliban.

China's involvement could speed up work on these projects, though major Chinese investments including a large copper mine and railway link near Kabul have been put on hold partly because of militant violence. Siraj said the amount of Chinese financing for the dam and other projects would be decided in later trilateral meetings.

At the meeting, the diplomats also discussed ways to bring Taliban militants to the negotiating table, following a Chinese proposal late last year for a “peace and reconciliation” forum.

“The three sides resolved to make concerted efforts in maintaining peace and stability in Afghanistan,” Pakistan said in a statement.

China has growing interests in Afghanistan, which offers a possible route to the sea from China's landlocked west.

China wants the country to be stable, both to help it exploit mineral resources and to weaken Islamist militants it says operate in the far western Chinese region of Xinjiang, which borders both Afghanistan and Pakistan

China expands its role in Afghanistan, Pakistan - World - DAWN.COM

 

[Hindustani78]

Expanding its role in Afghanistan, China to help build dam, roads| Reuters
KABUL/BEIJING Tue Feb 10, 2015 10:04am EST

China has promised to help build a hydroelectric power plant in a violent Afghan border region, as well as road and rail links to Pakistan, in the latest sign it is taking a more active role in Afghanistan.

The assistance will include an unspecified amount of financing, an Afghan foreign ministry spokesman, Sirajul Haq Siraj, said on Tuesday, a day after senior Afghan, Chinese and Pakistani diplomats met in Kabul.

"China agreed to support relevant initiatives for projects including the Kunar hydropower plant and strengthening road and rail connections between Afghanistan and Pakistan," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a daily news briefing in Beijing.

The planned 1,500 megawatt dam on the Kunar River, was previously supported only by Pakistan, which could buy some of the electricity it generates.

In 2013, Pakistan said it would also build a motorway connecting the Pakistani city of Peshawar to Kabul, as well as a railway line from Chaman, on the Pakistani side of Afghanistan's southeastern border to the southern Afghan city of Kandahar.

Kunar is one of Afghanistan's most active battlefields, with deep valleys and forests near the Pakistan border providing cover for different factions of the Taliban.

China's involvement could speed up work on these projects, though major Chinese investments including a large copper mine and railway link near Kabul have been put on hold partly because of militant violence.

Siraj said the amount of Chinese financing for the dam and other projects would be decided in later trilateral meetings.

At the meeting, the diplomats also discussed ways to bring Taliban militants to the negotiating table, following a Chinese proposal late last year for a "peace and reconciliation" forum.

"The three sides resolved to make concerted efforts in maintaining peace and stability in Afghanistan," Pakistan said in a statement.

China has growing interests in Afghanistan, which offers a possible route to the sea from China's landlocked west.

China wants the country to be stable, both to help it exploit mineral resources and to weaken Islamist militants it says operate in the far western Chinese region of Xinjiang, which borders both Afghanistan and Pakistan.

(Reporting by Frank Jack Daniel and Mirwais Harooni in Kabul, Ben Blanchard in Beijing; Editing by Robert Birsel)

 

[Pangu]

Lets hope this region can stabilize, everyone needs to have an interest in something worth building, so there's less fighting.

 

[anilindia]

Good. Now China will also not like to see Taliban coming back to afganistan. Tough time for Pakistan in afganistan

 

[Hiptullha]

Good. Now China will also not like to see Taliban coming back to afganistan. Tough time for Pakistan in afganistan

Tough time for Pakistan or India? Your assorted gang of opium traffickers, feudal lords, pedophiles and warlords united under the name of the Northern Alliance seem to have failed to take control of the country.

 

[anilindia]

Tough time for Pakistan or India? Your assorted gang of opium traffickers, feudal lords, pedophiles and warlords united under the name of the Northern Alliance seem to have failed to take control of the country.

You mean to say China will back Pakistan move for Taliban to control Afghanistan

 

[Hiptullha]

You mean to say China will back Pakistan move for Taliban to control Afghanistan

Pakistan has already shown signs of cooperating with Afghanistan regarding defeating the Taliban.

 

[Judge]

Tough time for Pakistan or India? Your assorted gang of opium traffickers, feudal lords, pedophiles and warlords united under the name of the Northern Alliance seem to have failed to take control of the country.

As opposed to your assorted gang that beheads and stones women, wear 3 foot long beards and whip women, kill non-Muslims, blow up heritage that predates the formation of Islam, marry 8 year olds.

 

[Hiptullha]

As opposed to your assorted gang that beheads and stones women, wear 3 foot long beards and whip women, kill non-Muslims, blow up heritage, marry 8 year olds.

I'm not the one always riding on the high horse.

 

[Judge]

I'm not the one always riding on the high horse.

No one is riding any high horse.

In the end we don't give a damn because what happens in Aghanistan does not affect us. We dont have to deal with the refugees or the drugs that come out of Afghanistan. We don't have a border with them so we don't get affected. You do.

The stakes for you are exponentially higher as you have to live with the jihad loving people you have sponsored.

At best, we lose the $2 billion that India has invested there. Small amounts for the Government of India.

 

[Hiptullha]

No one is riding any high horse.

It's always Indians crashing into these threads, outraged at Pakistan's foreign policy and ready to confront our dystopian generals.

In the end we don't give a damn because what happens in Aghanistan does not affect us. We dont have to deal with the refugees or the drugs that come out of Afghanistan. We don't have a border with them so we don't get affected. You do.

That's a pretty silly thing to say because India does care about what happens in Afghanistan just like how Pakistan cares about what happens in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. You're not projecting an image of a powerful or successful country when you blatantly point out India doesn't care about the relations of its neighbors. True, it is not as affected as much as Pakistan does, but it still gets affected to a certain degree.

The stakes for you are exponentially higher as you have to live with the jihad loving people you have sponsored.

Who are being flushed so quickly. The alternative to supporting the jihadis was a potential enemy being controlled by Iran and even more attacks. I can't say we handled it well, but we prevented an Iraq or Syria-like conflict.

 

[Judge]

That's a pretty silly thing to say because India does care about what happens in Afghanistan just like how Pakistan cares about what happens in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. You're not projecting an image of a powerful or successful country when you blatantly point out India doesn't care about the relations of its neighbors. True, it is not as affected as much as Pakistan does, but it still gets affected to a certain degree.

In saying that "India does not care'', I mean it ofcourse in terms of relativity.

India does care for Afghanistan which is why we invested $2 billion in the first place. That said, ultimately if we (voluntarily or involuntarily) cut our losses in Afghanistan, we lose just the money.

Even in neighbours, there are tier's.

For example what happens in Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan or Myanmar or Sri Lanka affects us much much more and we do care very much what happens there. This is because we share almost open borders with them. What happens there affects us directly and rapidly. So they are the most important neighbours of India.

The second tier is China and Pakistan. Because the terrain is such that flow of goods and people from China to India is very very difficult because of the Himalayas, we are largely insulated from the happenings in China and they from us.

Pakistan would have ranked as important for India as Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan or Sri Lanka because the terrain is easy to cross, except for simply the sheer amount of resources we have poured in the border, fencing, electrifying the fence, concertina wires, flood lighting, fire towers, mining, military and paramilitary deployment.

This ensures that flow of men and material from Pakistan can be checked in a moment's notice regardless of the numbers. Which means that in case of crisis in Pakistan, no flood of people will be able to enter and find refuge in India, nor in case of prosperity in Pakistan, a flood of manufactured goods be able to enter India.

And we are only committing more and more to make the border secure. By 2025, India will have poured over $10 billion on just the border. So we are largely insulated from what happens in Pakistan by virtue of these investments.

Afghanistan does not come in the matrix in that while it is South Asian, it is a distant neighbour. We share no border with them and consequently, what happens there does not affect Indians directly. It does affect us indirectly though.

Who are being flushed so quickly. The alternative to supporting the jihadis was a potential enemy being controlled by Iran and even more attacks. I can't say we handled it well, but we prevented an Iraq or Syria-like conflict.

I am sorry but I cannot agree with this logic. Iran is a responsible state and it has consistently proven that. It controls its territory well, it takes responsibility for its actions and governs its people.

It does not point to its inability to control 'non-state actors' like Pakistan does. Pakistan has chosen jihadis yet again like the 80's..and the result of this decision will come back to haunt Pakistan in the coming decades.

Just like today, Pakistanis in the 80's and 90's were elated that their mujahideen were victorious...it is now that they see the full results of that fateful decision. Give it a decade or two. You and I will both be alive to witness it.

As I said, you share an open border with them. Pakistan should have moved high heaven and hell to make sure that Afghans were a prosperous bunch in a stable country. The jihadis will not do that.

Why do you think the GoI panders to Bangladesh? We know that unless Bangladesh prospers(economically and socially), we cannot remain stable. There will be uncontrolled migration and desolation. So we give them loans, give them a boost as and when required, wherever required. Heck we have signed a border deal(though yet to be ratified by Parliament) with them in which India looses 10,000 acres of land to Bangladesh. You can see what I am getting at here. We will never sign such a deal with Pakistan or China.

Ultimately, it is in our supreme interest to ensure that Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Myanmar become prosperous nations.

Pakistan and China's economic/social growth or failure does not affect us for the above mentioned reasons. Which gives us latitude of operation and freedom of hostility in Pakistan.

 

[Zibago]

In saying that "India does not care'', I mean it ofcourse in terms of relativity.

India does care for Afghanistan which is why we invested $2 billion in the first place. That said, ultimately if we (voluntarily or involuntarily) cut our losses in Afghanistan, we lose just the money.

Even in neighbours, there are tier's.

For example what happens in Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan or Myanmar or Sri Lanka affects us much much more and we do care very much what happens there. This is because we share almost open borders with them. What happens there affects us directly and rapidly. So they are the most important neighbours of India.

The second tier is China and Pakistan. Because the terrain is such that flow of goods and people from China to India is very very difficult because of the Himalayas, we are largely insulated from the happenings in China and they from us.

In case of Pakistan, while the terrain is easy to cross, but simply the sheer amount of resources we have poured in the border, fencing, electrifying the fence, concertina wires, flood lighting, fire towers, mining, military and paramilitary deployments ensures that flow of men and material from Pakistan can be checked in a moment's notice regardless of the numbers of the men.

And we are only committing more and more to make the border secure. By 2025, India will have poured over $10 billion on just the border. So we are largely insulated from what happens in Pakistan by virtue of these investments.

Afghanistan does not come in the matrix in that while it is South Asian, it is a distant neighbour. We share no border with them and consequently, what happens there does not affect Indians directly. It does affect us indirectly though.

I am sorry but I cannot agree with this logic. Iran is a responsible state and it has consistently proven that. It controls its territory well, it takes responsibility for its actions and governs its people.

It does not point to its inability to control 'non-state actors' like Pakistan does. Pakistan has chosen jihadis yet again like the 80's..and the result of this decision will come back to haunt Pakistan in the coming decades.

Just like today, Pakistanis in the 80's and 90's were elated that their mujahideen were victorious...it is now that they see the full results of that fateful decision. Give it a decade or two. You and I will both be alive to witness it.

As I said, you share an open border with them. Pakistan should have moved high heaven and hell to make sure that Afghans were a prosperous bunch in a stable country. The jihadis will not do that.

Why do you think the GoI panders to Bangladesh? We know that unless Bangladesh prospers(economically and socially), we cannot remain stable. There will be uncontrolled migration and desolation. So we give them loans, give them a boost as and when required, wherever required. Heck we have signed a border deal with them in which India looses 10,000 acres of land to Bangladesh. You can see what I am getting at here. Ultimately, it is in our supreme interest to ensure that Bangladesh, Nepal and Myanmar become prosperous nations.

Pakistan and China's economic/social growth or failure does not affect us for the above mentioned reasons. Which gives us latitude of operation and freedom of hostility in Pakistan.

Whether you like it or not Afghan Taliban are future rulers of most Pashtun provinces of Afghanistan
Taliban Control 3 Districts in Afghan Provinces of Wardak and Kunduz | Foundation for Defense of Democracies

 

[Gazi]

Taliban are Expendables and can be gotten rid of if we have enough Guarantee that Afghanistan is not to be used against Pakistan in the Future. Chinese Provide that Guarantee and USA Approval is also there to allow Chinese in Afghanistan and once Afghanistan comes under Chinese Influence then Pakistan is on the driving seat in Afghanistan and India can say good bye to Afghanistan with all their Billions of Dollars Drain in to thin Air. Under such Circumstances Taliban would no longer required any further and would be removed once things get clear.