The relations between Afghanistan and People’s Republic of China have reached six decades; but historically they had a long history of economic and cultural ties. Afghans are familiar with china for a long time; Sino-Afghan relations were started in 120 BC, when the Chinese ambassador came to Afghanistan. The economic relations of Afghan-China started with the Silk Road-which started from China and by passing Afghanistan, it reached Central Asia, Europe and Africa.
In religious perspective, the Buddhism spread in China through Afghanistan and in Chinese Turkistan Islam was too, spread through Afghanistan. Therefore, this short history of these two countries clarifies the historical relations of both countries.
In the last century, Mao Tse tung was the founder of communist revolution in China, and Afghanistan without any condition recognized the Chinese communist revolution after two months of its birth, this shows how good were relations between these two countries.
Later on, in 1955 the formal diplomatic relations of both countries started with the exchange of ambassadors.
We can divide the Afghan-China relations into two parts:
Relations during Cold War (1950-1991)
And relations after Cold War (1991-2015)
Sino-Afghan Relations during Cold War (1950-1991)
In this period, Sino-Afghan relations, especially strategic relations, were influenced by international politics. In this area, China increased its cultural relationship with Afghanistan, as the relationships of China and Russia entered dark stages, so China started investment in Afghanistan and started cooperation and work in various projects in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan was not part of Soviet Security block; Kabul was reasoning that Afghanistan would never be a part of security belt, which will be against China.
Chinese were more concerned with the coup de ta of Sardar Dawood Khan that it might had been done by Soviet Union’s instructions, but later on Sardar Dawood Khan sent his brother and foreign affairs minister of his country, Sardar Mohammad Naim to China, and then the Chinese concerns were removed, therefore, Chinese started more projects in Afghanistan.
During the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan, China was much closer to U.S. compared to Soviet Union. China thought that the attack of the Soviet Union was a part of a belt, which is surrounding China; so as a result, china did not only condemn Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan, but also supported Afghan Mujahidin.
Relationships after the Cold War (1991-2015)
As with the withdrawal of Soviet Union’s forces, Afghanistan was dragged into civil war; as a result, China closed its embassy in Kabul, and when the Taliban controlled most of the country and they took power, some Uighur Muslims got asylum in Kabul. Therefore, China became worried; because at that time, there was an armed uprising in Xinjiang province, and most of their leaders were present in Afghanistan. Another Chinese concern was the smuggling of narcotics, which in their opinion would only benefit the mentioned armed opposition. Due to these two reasons, China and Russia established Shanghai-5 Organization, which then in 2001 was converted to Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which its aim was to struggle against terrorism and narcotics.
However, with Chinese concerns, there was still a secret relations between China and the Taliban. One of the top Taliban Officials, Mullah Abdul Salaam Zaif, has written in his book that once he joined Chinese ambassador to visit Mullah Mohammad Omar in Kandahar, and Mullah Omar had insured China that Afghanistan will never be used against any neighbouring country, maybe because of that China has chosen careful way of dealing with Afghanistan. However, China is supporter of the U.S. and NATO’s war on terror. Still, China not only refused to send her forces to Afghanistan, but also had not published any newsletter against the Taliban.
Hamid Karzai: the Founder of New Relations
Though some analysts had criticized internal policies of ex-president Hamid Karzai; but his foreign policy, especially in his second round, toward some countries is appreciated. Because of some systematic conflicts with the U.S. he returned his face to some of the regional powers like China, India, and Russia[1].
The Afghan-China relations tightened during Karzai’s regime compared to any other time. During his era, there were many attempts done by Afghanistan for the improvement of relations, therefore, Hamid Karzai had five trips to China; but none of the top Chinese officials has come to Afghanistan.
As the relations of Karzai and the U.S. got worse, and Karzai was criticized for the election of 2009, so Karzai attempted to improve his relations with Chine, so in 2010 he had his fourth trip to China for the same purpose, so in addition to his other trips, he increased the political role of China in Afghanistan.
China; the Key players of the internal and external policies of Ashraf Ghani
How important is China for Ashraf Ghani? To find answer for this question it is enough to think of Ashraf Ghani’s first foreign visit to China, and asked China to play important role in the peace process of Afghanistan. Therefore, China started negotiation with the Taliban officials, until now they had two official talks with the officials of the Taliban from the Qatar’s office, and they talked in China. However, the details of these meetings are not yet declared.
China think that with the exit of NATO and the U.S. there is lack of forces in Afghanistan, therefore China see it as an opportunity. As since, 2001 up to 2014 China cooperated 200 million USD with Afghanistan, but with the first trip of Ashraf Ghani to China, China promised 330 million USD for next three years. By his first trip to China, on one hand, Ashraf Ghani opened a new chapter of Afghan-China relations; on the other hand, he provided opportunities for long-term relations.
As there were ceremonies taken in ARG and the Foreign Ministry of Afghanistan for celebration of the sixth decade of Afghan-China relations, it shows massive interests of Afghanistan to the relationships of China. As President Ashraf Ghani pointed out in the celebration of the sixtieth annual celebration of Afghan-China relations, and the ceremony of establishment of Pashtu-Chinese Dictionary, there are hopes arisen for the increase of role of China in the peace process of Afghanistan.
If the Afghan-China relations are analysed overall; so we will see that though both the countries had historical relations with each other; but in diplomatic field China did not pay attention to Afghanistan, Afghanistan also given the chance of secondary neighbouring country compared to its other neighbouring countries. But in last few years, there is not only interest of China increased in Afghanistan, but also increased its interest, which shows positive changes in the actions of China toward Afghanistan; because the strategies of China has changed, and it is going to move toward Westernization, which one of them is the Silk Road and the second one can be called the Pakistan-China energy zone.
In addition to that, China needs the security of Afghanistan for safety of its security and economic projects; therefore, China accepted the proposal of Afghan government and started negotiation with the Taliban.
The End
[1] One can say that one of the unsuccessfulness of Hamid Karzai’s foreign policy was the bad relations between Kabul and Islamabad. Kabul, as according to their national interests, must kept balance between two archrivals: Pakistan and India.