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| Afghan Special Forces (File Photo) |
By Ankit Panda
The Afghan government is showing Beijing that it’s serious about counter-terrorism cooperation.
Late last week, Reuters reported that Afghan authorities had arrested over a dozen Muslim Uyghur militants and turned them over to China. The report noted that Afghanistan wanted to “persuade China to use its influence with Pakistan to help start negotiations with the Taliban.”
The deal is evidence of China’s growing influence in the Afghan peace process as well as China’s involvement in ensuring better relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Since Ashraf Ghani came to power in Afghanistan last fall, relations between Afghanistan and China have been growing considerably. Beijing is currently involved in setting a path forward for talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban (more on that process in my take from last week).
The Reuters report, in particular, included a very straight-forward acknowledgment from an Afghan security official of the tit-for-tat nature of the Uyghur militant transfer deal: ”We offered our hand in cooperation with China and in return we asked them to pressure Pakistan to stop supporting the Taliban or at least bring them to the negotiating table.” That statement should remove any doubt that Afghan officials don’t fully appreciate the role China can play in facilitating a sustainable peace process with the backing of the Pakistani government. Afghan officials made sure to let the Chinese know that the captured Uyghur militants “had trained in militant camps across the border in Pakistan.” Beijing has long been concerned about Uyghur militants using the poorly governed areas in Pakistan’s northwest for training and regrouping.
Read the full story at The Diplomat