Afghan Vanity Fair as a spoiler of CPEC

Afghan Vanity Fair as a spoiler of CPEC

Dr. Jassim Taqui

When all arrangements were made for the historic 13^th ECO summit, Afghanis­tan refused to send a high-level representation. Instead, Kabul decided to be represented in the ECO summit by its ambassador to Pakistan Dr. Omar Zakhilwal.

Heads of states or governments of all other countries, except Uzbekistan whose deputy prime minister is coming to the summit, have confirmed their participation in the event.

The already tense relations with Afghanistan got further complicated earlier this month following a spate of terrorist attacks in Pakistan, which the government blamed on terrorist sanctuaries on Afghan soil. The Pakistan Army closed border crossings with Afghanistan to protest Kabul’s inaction against terrorist groups targeting Pakistan and shelled the sanctuaries along the border.

This Kabul’s stance is expected on two counts. First, Afghanistan is a puppet of the invading US troops. Hence, it is influenced by Washington.

Second, Kabul has signed the so-called Military Partnership with India, which publicly opposes the CPEC.

Consequently, this stance of Ashraf Ghani signifies the official emergence of US-India-Afghanistan axis that opposes the China and Russia-supported CPEC.

The trio is working to deny Pakistan connectivity and cooperation in energy, infrastructure, transport, and trade sectors.

However, CPEC is possible even without Afgha­nistan becoming part of it. The CPEC can enter western China from Pakistan with connectivity alre­ady exists with Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan and through them, Kazakhstan can be connected. Since Kazakhstan borders Russia and Mongolia, Pakistan would be connected with CARs, Eurasia, and through them with Russia and China, which are the main pillars of SCO.