MONITORING (SW) – China has offered to build a road network for the Taliban if they can ensure peace in Afghanistan after the US military withdrawal, the Financial Times reported.
Diplomats from Beijing offered “sizeable investments in energy and infrastructure projects” in the country during talks that have been taking place over the past three months in Beijing, the tribal leaders from Pakistan’s south-western Baluchistan province told the Financial Times.
“Chinese officials have told the Taliban to bring peace [to Afghanistan] and China will invest in roads to begin with,” said one leader. “In future, China also wants to look at energy projects like generating electricity and then transporting oil and gas from central Asia [through Afghanistan].”
A senior Pakistani government official in the foreign ministry confirmed that Chinese officials continued to meet Taliban representatives as the Trump administration began withdrawing troops. The US signed a peace deal with the insurgents in February. But the withdrawal, which was supposed to be completed in 14 months from signing the deal last year, has been stymied by a series of deadly Taliban attacks on Afghan security forces and civilians.
“The Chinese are thinking ahead on Afghanistan and laying the ground for the future,” said James Dorsey, a Singapore-based security expert. “The Chinese are taking increasing interest in countries close to their border,” he said, adding that Afghanistan fitted in “China’s overall interest”.
According to the report, peace talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government in Kabul have been held up for months over the attacks and a delayed prisoner exchange. After a strategic dialogue between China, Pakistan and Afghanistan in July, foreign ministry officials from the countries warned of a “potential terrorist resurgence” in Afghanistan if US troops were not pulled out “responsibly”.
A former Pakistani intelligence official who spoke to the FT from Peshawar said China’s involvement with the Taliban had helped to nudge the hardline movement towards peace. Pakistan’s security agencies hold deep ties to the Taliban in Afghanistan and have for decades armed and financed them to secure regional supremacy.
More recently, they have helped bring the Taliban to the negotiating table to hash out a peace deal with the US. “The Chinese have repeatedly pressed the Taliban to see the benefits of an economically revitalized Afghanistan. That’s a message no one else is delivering as powerfully as the Chinese right now,” the former Pakistani intelligence official said. “The Taliban recognize China for not only having the financial means but also the motive to develop Afghanistan.”
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