China announced a $31 million aid to Afghanistan: What does it mean?

On Sep 8, 2021, China announced $ 31 million in aid to Afghanistan, becoming one of the first to extend diplomacy toward the Taliban.

So what motives inspired the debatable action by China while it is still facing silent backlash from the world being the alleged creator of covid-19, and more importantly, why should we care? 

China’s attempts at diplomacy 

As soon as a cloud of the Taliban began looming on the Ashraf Ghani government, China bet on the Taliban and won.

China hoisted the Talibani delegation in July this year, taking its first step towards deepening ties with the Taliban while the world was watching.

Now it has promised substantial economic assistance, which it believes will restore order and end the anarchy.

Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi affirms that Beijing would provide Afghanistan with 200 million yuan ($31 million) worth of grains, winter supplies, vaccines, and medicines as per their requirements. 

Expected course of this relationship 

In more ways than one China, and the Taliban are tailor-made for each other. China’s mercantile interests will be fulfilled in Afghanistan, as the new government is in sore need of investment right now.

China must aim at reviving deserted business ventures in Afghanistan, and its fragile economy will be a soft target.

It also appears that the two have decided not to interfere in the internal affairs of each other.

China does not question the extremist views and actions of the Taliban; state-run Xinhua reported Wang Webin’s comments with the headline ‘China welcomes Taliban’s announcement of caretaker government’.

As for the Taliban, they claim it is their right to raise their voice for the Muslims of Kashmir. Still, they do not sound equally enthusiastic for the Uyghur Muslims of the Xinjiang region or the Russian region of Chechnya, for that matter.

So it is clear that unless they receive a democracy, secularism or feminism sermon from China, they do not mind China’s helping hand. 

A talk about ideology and history 

Taliban, which means students in the Pashtun language, started as a group of 50 students of Mullah Omar; he was earlier a part of the Islamic government leader, Mujahideen.

They have been opponents of communism since their inception. Even today, most of their speeches and logic revolve around religion, which is against the very basis of communism. So China does not have any similarities with the group on principles.

The only interest here for both of them is political and economic. Most of you would have heard that the CIA created the Taliban against the Soviet Union; though it is not pragmatically wrong, it is incomplete.

When the Soviet Union was supporting the communist leader, Hafizullah, the CIA (of USA), the MI6 (of Britain) and ISI (of Pakistan) supported the Muslim extremist leader Mujahideen.

So the inception of the Taliban is a complex story, and the blame does not lie with the actions of one country.

American troops might have evacuated Afghanistan now, but the volcano was always bubbling beneath the surface. 

Effects on India and the world 

There are various perspectives on what ought to be India’s stance in the situation. One argument suggests that we must have sent our military to help the Afghan army stop the takeover; others say it is not our battle.

Some say we must follow China and establish cordial relationships with the new government; on the contrary, one opinion is that India should not trust the Taliban as they sheltered Pro Pakistan militants earlier.

The fact is that many extremists trained in Pakistan are a part of the Taliban, and the country will affect their workings.

It is an open secret that China enjoys an influential position in Pakistan. With India being thin with China on territorial and economic issues, the alliance is to be monitored.  

 China is not expected to speedrun its other projects like ‘One Belt One Road’ still incomplete.

Afghanistan has long been used as a rope for the tug of war between the cold war countries.

The repercussions of those selfish actions are standing before us all, so we must be cautious of our steps.