By Jack Detsch
With the U.S. refocusing its role in Afghanistan, China and Pakistan are leading the push for talks with the Taliban.
With Afghan officials finally resuming peace talks with the Taliban, there are new figures facilitating the deal. In the last effort, which stagnated in 2013, the United States and India, a key ally of then-President Hamid Karzai, facilitated the talks. Today, with Ashraf Ghani in office, it increasingly looks like Washington and Delhi will take a backseat to Pakistan and China.
The negotiations will be a test of political will for all involved. China, which fears getting too deeply enmeshed in the dangerous country, will have to figure out how to protect its contractors. Pakistan, in sidelining India, could jeopardize shuttle diplomacy efforts that began during the Cricket World Cup in March. Afghanistan again risks becoming a political pawn in a much larger game, particularly with China becoming more and more involved in the booming region: promising a new silk road that would link the eastern and central Asia.
The talks are only beginning. Ghani just returned from Washington, where he successfully persuaded the Americans to continue their involvement in the region, just as the summer fighting season heats up in Helmand and Kandahar. At a press conference last week, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, Secretary of State John Kerry, and Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew announced, with Ghani in tow, that they would continue training and equipping the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) into 2017.
Read the full story at The Diplomat