jbond197
SENIOR MEMBER
- Joined
- Feb 28, 2010
- Messages
- 7,300
- Reaction score
- -20
- Country
- Location
Beijing reaches out to Delhi to safeguard its interests
NEW DELHI: Early this year, China reached out to India to start a dialogue on Afghanistan. This led to China, Russia and India meeting together for the first time in Moscow on February 20 to consult on Afghanistan's future. This is the second trilateral dialogue India has started on Afghanistan the first being with the US and Afghanistan that met a day before the China-Russia-India trilateral.
When the Chinese leadership first approached India, New Delhi's reaction was "why now?" The Chinese response was that they had $3 billion in investments in Afghanistan. Indian investments are over $2 billion. China's approach to Afghanistan has largely been driven by its all-weather ally, Pakistan, thus far. But, China has expressed growing alarm about the possible return of the Taliban in Afghanistan that appears to be part of Pakistan's design. Beijing is anxious about the export of extremism and terrorism into their restive Xinjiang province.
Besides, the uncertainty over the 2014 US drawdown of troops has spooked all stakeholders. This has led to the every body hedging every possible outcome. US diplomatic sources said America and China are locked in their own conversation on Afghanistan. India is engaging with Russia, China and Iran. In addition, India is ready to hold talks with Pakistan on Kabul's future, but there is no interest from the Pakistani side.
For Russia, the problem is more proximate. The prospect of Taliban and its ideology travelling into the central Asian states remains a matter of apprehension. Russia has been trying to befriend Pakistan for some time now, to incentivize Islamabad to use its influence to prevent Taliban ingress into these countries. Russian President Vladimir Putin even contemplated a maiden visit to Pakistan last year, which could have seriously affected the India-Russia relationship.
However, in recent months, the renewed push by western governments to accommodate the Taliban in "reconciliation" a power-sharing arrangement in Kabul has complicated matters for all three countries. India is deeply opposed to the reconciliation process because it believes Taliban's extremism would overwhelm all other shades of opinion, pushing Afghanistan back to the 1990s. But Russia and China are fearful of what they believe could become a US-Taliban "deal" that allows continued American presence in Afghanistan. This they reckoned to be "destabilizing" for their future.
But for India, the Chinese request was also interpreted to mean that they may also be hedging against a Pakistan-led approach to Afghanistan. Pakistan has not shown any move to divorce itself from the Taliban. Islamabad continues to harbour Afghan Taliban leaders in its territory, despite much pleading by the West to release them for talks with the Karzai government. A Taliban office has been in operation in Doha, Qatar, for some time, without the reconciliation process making much headway largely because of the lack of credible Taliban leaders to talk with.
There is talk of the US trying to directly reach out to Taliban leaders, an effort that is being replicated by UK, France and Germany. The upshot of all of this is that the Karzai government has been brought to the same level as the Taliban it is being treated as just another faction instead of being a legitimate government in Kabul. To many countries, the legitimization of the Taliban is complete. Diplomatic sources observe that if in 2001, there were only three countries, which had recognized the Taliban, there are many more in 2013.
Afghan president Hamid Karzai is swinging wildly between trying to "accommodate" the Pakistani Army's version of the Taliban's return, to openly criticizing them. After the head of the Pakistan Ulema Council, Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi, was quoted as saying suicide attacks in Afghanistan were legitimate, Karzai said on Sunday, "Afghanistan wants a real struggle against terrorism and wants the Pakistani government to realize that both our nations are burning in the same fire.
"The Pakistani government has an essential and important role in putting out this fire," he sad. "We see that practical steps are not being taken to fight terrorism," Karzai added.
NEW DELHI: Early this year, China reached out to India to start a dialogue on Afghanistan. This led to China, Russia and India meeting together for the first time in Moscow on February 20 to consult on Afghanistan's future. This is the second trilateral dialogue India has started on Afghanistan the first being with the US and Afghanistan that met a day before the China-Russia-India trilateral.
When the Chinese leadership first approached India, New Delhi's reaction was "why now?" The Chinese response was that they had $3 billion in investments in Afghanistan. Indian investments are over $2 billion. China's approach to Afghanistan has largely been driven by its all-weather ally, Pakistan, thus far. But, China has expressed growing alarm about the possible return of the Taliban in Afghanistan that appears to be part of Pakistan's design. Beijing is anxious about the export of extremism and terrorism into their restive Xinjiang province.
Besides, the uncertainty over the 2014 US drawdown of troops has spooked all stakeholders. This has led to the every body hedging every possible outcome. US diplomatic sources said America and China are locked in their own conversation on Afghanistan. India is engaging with Russia, China and Iran. In addition, India is ready to hold talks with Pakistan on Kabul's future, but there is no interest from the Pakistani side.
For Russia, the problem is more proximate. The prospect of Taliban and its ideology travelling into the central Asian states remains a matter of apprehension. Russia has been trying to befriend Pakistan for some time now, to incentivize Islamabad to use its influence to prevent Taliban ingress into these countries. Russian President Vladimir Putin even contemplated a maiden visit to Pakistan last year, which could have seriously affected the India-Russia relationship.
However, in recent months, the renewed push by western governments to accommodate the Taliban in "reconciliation" a power-sharing arrangement in Kabul has complicated matters for all three countries. India is deeply opposed to the reconciliation process because it believes Taliban's extremism would overwhelm all other shades of opinion, pushing Afghanistan back to the 1990s. But Russia and China are fearful of what they believe could become a US-Taliban "deal" that allows continued American presence in Afghanistan. This they reckoned to be "destabilizing" for their future.
But for India, the Chinese request was also interpreted to mean that they may also be hedging against a Pakistan-led approach to Afghanistan. Pakistan has not shown any move to divorce itself from the Taliban. Islamabad continues to harbour Afghan Taliban leaders in its territory, despite much pleading by the West to release them for talks with the Karzai government. A Taliban office has been in operation in Doha, Qatar, for some time, without the reconciliation process making much headway largely because of the lack of credible Taliban leaders to talk with.
There is talk of the US trying to directly reach out to Taliban leaders, an effort that is being replicated by UK, France and Germany. The upshot of all of this is that the Karzai government has been brought to the same level as the Taliban it is being treated as just another faction instead of being a legitimate government in Kabul. To many countries, the legitimization of the Taliban is complete. Diplomatic sources observe that if in 2001, there were only three countries, which had recognized the Taliban, there are many more in 2013.
Afghan president Hamid Karzai is swinging wildly between trying to "accommodate" the Pakistani Army's version of the Taliban's return, to openly criticizing them. After the head of the Pakistan Ulema Council, Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi, was quoted as saying suicide attacks in Afghanistan were legitimate, Karzai said on Sunday, "Afghanistan wants a real struggle against terrorism and wants the Pakistani government to realize that both our nations are burning in the same fire.
"The Pakistani government has an essential and important role in putting out this fire," he sad. "We see that practical steps are not being taken to fight terrorism," Karzai added.
It was the article in the OP that said "Beijing" was reaching out to Delhi. Not me, but Beijing.
