Afghanistan: China, Pakistan and India run for seats in new “Big Game”

The Russian and British empires fought in Afghanistan in the 19th century and the United States and the Soviet Union in the 20th. As the Taliban regain control of the strategically enclosed country, the new Grand Pakistan, along with his ally China, seek, now, to consolidate their positions in the region.

Pakistan has strong ties to the Taliban and has been accused of backing the Islamist group against the US-led government in Kabul, according to an extensive Reuters analysis. Islamabad denies the allegations.

However, when the Taliban took control of the Afghan capital last week, the Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan stated that the Afghans “broke the chains of slavery”.

According to reports, the Taliban are also in talks to decide on a model of governing Afghanistan. Pakistani officials.

China, again, has no past involvement in Afghanistan. It has, however, strong alliance with Pakistan. It tends to be an oil industry for the Taliban, focused on Afghanistan’s untapped mineral wealth, and in particular on the large reserves of lithium needed by the electric car industry. China is also seeking to strengthen the security of the only narrow highway connecting China with Pakistan through the Karakorum Mountains.

And then there is India – Pakistan’s great enemy – which has been in a military dispute with China over its disputed border for more than a year. India has been a staunch supporter of Kabul’s previous regime, and as Pakistan and China move their pawns to the new Taliban regime, New Delhi’s nervousness is growing, according to the same analysis.

In approaching the Taliban regime, Beijing has as its main objective the protection of the predominantly western Muslim province of Xinjiang from its Islamic Movement guerrillas. Turkestan, who may seek refuge in the territory of Afghanistan.

“At a time when Pakistan may be considering using its penetration in Afghanistan against India, this is not necessarily the case for China,” he said. Zhang Li, Professor of South Asian Studies at Sichuan University. “China’s main goal now is to establish a multilateral, moderate regime by the Taliban so that terrorism does not spread to Xinjiang and the wider region. “Everything beyond that remains to be seen.”

The US government claims that the Islamic Movement of Turkestan no longer exists as an official organization and that it is a pretext used by China to suppress various Muslim ethnic groups, including the Xinjiang Uyghurs.

China offers the prospect of three elements the Taliban need to rule Afghanistan: diplomatic recognition, infrastructure and financial assistance, says Brahma Cellani, Professor of Strategic Studies at the Center for Policy Research in New Delhi.

“An opportunistic China is certain will be exploited “Developments to strategically penetrate mineral-rich Afghanistan and deepen its penetration into Pakistan, Iran and Central Asia.”

Unpleasant memories

In Pakistan, there has been great excitement over India’s embarrassment following developments in Afghanistan, he says. Raza Ahmed Rumi, a political commentator, who teaches at Ithaca College in New York. The two countries have fought three wars since independence in 1947.

“The celebrations in Pakistan, which were captured on social media and on television screens, are associated with the dissolution of Indian influence, as political circles considered the close ties of the Afghan president Ashraf Ghani with India threat.

India has fond memories of the previous Taliban rule and its close ties with Pakistan.

Indicatively, an Indian Airlines plane was hijacked in 1999 and finally landed in Kandahar in southern Afghanistan. New Delhi was forced to release three Pakistani terrorists from Indian prisons in exchange for the return of passengers. The Taliban allowed the hijackers and all three terrorists to return to Pakistan.

Our current position is the position of adaptation to reality. We have to play a long game in Afghanistan. “We do not have common borders, but we have interests there,” he said Zayed Prasad, former ambassador of India to Kabul.

Last year, as the Taliban emerged as the dominant force and US-sponsored negotiations began in Doha, Indian diplomats had open line with them, became known from diplomatic sources in New Delhi. «We talk to all stakeholdersSaid one of the Indian diplomats, without elaborating on the talks.

There is criticism in India that New Delhi put all the eggs in the Ghani government basket when the US started talks with the Taliban and that it was too late.

“Our job is to persuade them to accept us”

However, India, as a major economic player, may be attractive to the Taliban, who will seek to avoid over-dependence from China, he says.

It is noted that India is running Development Programs in each of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces, large and small, including the construction of the parliament building in Kabul, which was invaded by the Taliban last week.

THE Mira MacDonald, author of three books on South Asia and a former Reuters reporter, sees the developments as a setback for India, but not the end of the game for New Delhi.

“It is not a repetition of the past. “Everyone will be much more careful this time around not to let Islamic terrorism in Afghanistan explode like it did before 9/11.”

“In addition, India is much more economically strong than Pakistan.”

A Taliban official told Reuters that poor Afghanistan needed help from countries in the region, including Iran, as well as the United States and Russia.

“We expect them to help us, to support our people, especially the health sector and especially the business sector and the mineral resources sector,” he said. Wahidullah Hashimi, located close to the Taliban ‘s decision – making mechanisms. “Our job is to persuade them to accept us.”