Rebuilding Afghanistan a touchstone for China-US ties
- By Zhao Ruiqi
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E-mail China.org.cn, October 13, 2015
In October, while visiting Beijing, Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani asked China to engage in its peace process and play a bigger role in ensuring the country's prosperity and stability.
Unlike the United States, China and the Taliban do not hold any deep grudges against each other, which offers China the opportunity, based on U.S. understanding, to mediate between different political forces in Afghanistan, urging them to engage in dialogue and cooperation.
Reconciliation is in the interest of the White House because only on this way can Obama fulfill his promise to withdraw all the 180,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq before his presidency ends.
Third, China and the United States should invite Afghanistan's neighbors, including Pakistan and India, to all the discussions on the country's future, because a peaceful and affluent Afghanistan is in the interest of all countries in the region. China and the United States have enough influence over these countries to bring them back to the reconciliation process in Afghanistan.
Although Afghanistan no longer claims the headlines, its critical geopolitical position still matters for world stability and development. Also apparent is the importance of the China-U.S. cooperation in solving this regional difficulty; it is possible to reinstate peace in this war-torn country, apart from being a touchstone for whether China and the United States are capable of shaping what is known as the new-type of relations between major countries.
President Xi's U.S. visit removed some of Washington's anxiety. Maintaining communication and cooperation on Afghanistan was among the 49 items of major consensus. Properly dealing with Afghanistan issues and the peace process will help accumulate trust and political wisdom, which will in turn promote the China-U.S. cooperation in providing more solutions to the complicated issues in the Asia-Pacific region.
The writer is an associate professor at Communication University of China and a research fellow with the Charhar Institute.
The article was translated by Chen Boyuan. Its original and unabridged version was published in Chinese.
Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors only, and not necessarily those of China.org.cn.
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