The fall of Afghanistan brings trouble to China’s “One Belt One Road” initiative

The unpredictable takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban brought a turbulent second game to the country, as the world is watching developments closely.

Many countries have made important investments in Afghanistan. As a major stakeholder in the country, China is currently actively evaluating its response measures to protect its multi-billion dollar investment and infrastructure projects, including the “Belt and Road” initiative.

Despite the global condemnation of the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, China was one of the first countries to quickly support and recognize the new regime. The Taliban cordially welcomed this.

Since 2001, with the support of the US military, the Afghan government led by Ashraf Ghani has collapsed, which shows that China has the opportunity to stand on the side of the United States.

China did not realize that the existence of the United States played an important deterrent effect and protected various global investments in Afghanistan, including Chinese investments.

US President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw US troops also brought chaos to Beijing because China has invested and raised huge infrastructure projects over the years and provided huge loans to Islamabad as part of the “Belt and Road” Initiative (BRI). , President Xi Jinping’s star project in Asia aims to reignite the famous Silk Road.

The “Belt and Road Initiative” is one of Xi Jinping’s most coveted projects and requires active support from South Asian countries including Afghanistan.

Therefore, due to the insanity Taliban once again taking over Afghanistan, which poses a major threat to the “Belt and Road” project, China’s US$282 billion investment in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe as part of the “Belt and Road” initiative is now on the edge of a cliff.

Pakistan has always been the main beneficiary of Chinese investment in Asia, but after the bombing of a Chinese shuttle bus in northern Pakistan became news, Beijing began to attract attention. The explosion killed nine Chinese engineers who were working on the $4 billion Dasu Hydropower Dam.

One month after the bombing, Pakistan blamed the Taliban for the attack, claiming that Afghan land was used for the incident. Such incidents are an example of what an uncontrolled terrorist organization with immense power can do in disputed territory.

What is disturbing for China is the way the CCP and Jinping make key investment decisions in South Asia, most of which are forward-looking.

As a result, China has provided large amounts of loans to countries such as Afghanistan and Pakistan to realize its “One Belt, One Road” dream. However, when the regime can change in unstable territories overnight, this forward-looking strategy often fails. Therefore, China has to provide support to the Taliban, willingly or unwillingly, which is inherently highly unstable and highly unstable. The organization that poses a threat. All investments made by countries around the world in Afghanistan.

The large unplanned funds of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in these controversial countries may lead to a counterattack against the “Belt and Road” initiative, which is recovering from the devastating effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. It will further put pressure on the country’s economy and people.

Although the CCP quickly recognized the Taliban regime to join forces with the Taliban, the Taliban government 2.0 is uncharted territory.

China has clearly weakened the importance of the United States’ presence in Afghanistan for 20 years. The withdrawal of one superpower is not necessarily the so-called opportunity of another superpower.

If Xi Jinping’s ambitious “One Belt, One Road” initiative is to be realized, China now needs to carefully evaluate its support for the Taliban.

–IANS

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(Only the title and image of this report may have been redesigned by the business standards staff; the rest of the content is automatically generated from the joint feed.)

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