By Shannon Tiezzi
President Ashraf Ghani will visit China from October 28 – 31 on his first formal trip abroad.
China’s Foreign Ministry announced today that newly inaugurated Afghan President Ashraf Ghani will pay a state visit to China next week. It will be Ghani’s first trip abroad since assuming office on September 29. Ghani will be in China October 28 to 31, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry. Ghani’s visit will coincide with this year’s ministerial meeting of the Istanbul Process, to be held on October 31.
Ghani, as Afghanistan’s president during and after the withdrawal of most U.S. and NATO troops, will play a major role in the success (or failure) of Afghanistan’s system of governance. As such, China lost no time inviting Ghani for a visit to lend its support to his administration. Beijing’s hosting of this year’s Istanbul Process will also showcase China’s leadership in multilateral efforts to protect Afghan stability. The Istanbul Process meeting was originally scheduled to take place in August; it may have been pushed back to account for an unexpected delay in resolving the results from Afghanistan’s presidential election. Had the meeting taken place as originally scheduled, it would have had to involve Afghanistan’s previous presidential administration.
For China, there are a number of reasons to help support Ghani’s government as much as possible. In a worst-case scenario, regime collapse or near collapse (such as the current situation in Iraq) would be a disaster for China’s security interests. A failed state, likely hosting a number of terrorist and militant groups, would destabilize China’s western regions, particularly the already-restive Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Beijing is already greatly concerned about the movement of foreign militants into Xinjiang; regime collapse in Afghanistan would greatly exacerbate this issue.
Read the full story at The Diplomat