ISLAMABAD – Daniel Hyatt, a Pakistan-based freelance journalist, wrote inhis opinion piece “Afghan President Ashraf Ghani sees China’s Belt and RoadInitiative (BRI) as a means to strengthen regional cooperation”:
“It is, therefore, only a matter of time before the Afghan governmentformally joins the Belt and Road program,” he claimed.
On December 15, officials from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and China met in theAfghan capital Kabul to discuss trade, development, and solutions to the17-year-old war. They renewed the call to end the fighting in Afghanistan.
The meeting was second in a series of dialogues between the foreignministers of the three countries. During the talks, Afghanistan’s ForeignMinister Salahuddin Rabbani said his country wants to participate in theChinese initiative to link regions for trade.
China also sees an end to the war as critical to its “One Belt, One Road”policy of expanding trade links across Asia.
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Under the BRI, China is investing billions of dollars in Pakistan.The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a key project of thatpolicy. The project aims at developing a route to link western China to theworld.
Bringing Afghanistan into the BRI net is also a priority for Pakistan as itwill connect Central Asian states with China on the east. “Afghanistan’sparticipation in the initiative will open up a new and economical route forthese states to connect with South Asian, Middle Eastern and Africanmarkets – simultaneously offering the same advantages to Afghanistan,” readthe piece.
