China dismantling peace in Afghanistan by collaborating with Pak, Taliban, says columnist

A columnist from Jammu and Kashmir, Farooq Ganderbali on Sunday blamed China for dismantling peace in Afghanistan by collaborating with Pakistan and supporting the Taliban.

"China is trying to dismantle peace in the region by collaborating With Pakistan and supporting Taliban, all this at a time when peace and civilian rule of democracy was getting restored in the great nation of Afghanistan. The adventures of Pak-China will kill stability for Afghan," tweeted Farooq Ganderbali.

Farooq Ganderbali often writes in a Pakistani Newspaper Pakistan Christian Post highlighting the plights of Christian minority in the country. He is also the founder of Peace and Justice Forum.

With the US troops' drawdown from Afghanistan on the verge of completion, a new terror axis is emerging in the Afghan-Pak geopolitical theatre with the convergence of interests between Pakistan and China.

Amid the Taliban's increasing grip over Afghanistan, Pakistan has dropped all pretensions of being an ally of the US led-western countries despite the much-needed American safety net on key issues that have a direct impact on its economy, wrote Fabien Baussart in The Times of Israel.

In recent weeks, even the Taliban have since played down China's concerns on the Uyghur Muslim issue. Beijing believes that under Taliban rule, Afghanistan will become a hub for the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM).

"We will no longer allow China's Uyghur separatist fighters (from Xinjiang)," Taliban spokesperson Suhail Shaheen said in a widely circulated interview. Taliban spokesperson admitted that some Uyghur had previously sought refuge in Afghanistan. He, however, promised not to host them.

According to Baussart, the Taliban can be as duplicitous as their patrons. "Well, China may hope to leverage its money power against any likelihood of a breach in the promise by the Taliban; such a hope, even after its Pakistan experience, exposes its inability not to look beyond the nose."

From all accounts, Baussarts stated that China seeks to fill the unfolding void in Afghanistan. "It is ready with cash and weapons that the Taliban may need in case the nationalist forces try to checkmate its expansion within the country."

The Afghan government has repeatedly accused Pakistan of supporting the Taliban and preventing the Afghan forces from carrying out military operations against them. The ties between the two sides have further deteriorated since the daughter of the Afghan ambassador to Pakistan was briefly kidnapped on her way home on Islamabad earth this month.

(ANI)

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