Counting on China

Islamabad's efforts to engage Beijing for ushering a thaw in its relations with Kabul is tactical diplomacy. The move needs to be appreciated and is likely to bear peace dividends as the Afghan Taliban are, at least, receptive to Beijing. That is so because China is the first country to recognise the Taliban 2.0 government, and has a formal diplomatic footprint in the war-weary country.

The recent hostilities between Pakistan and Afghanistan are an outcome of Kabul looking the other way when it comes to exterminating the terror hideouts from the Afghan soil in compliance with Doha Accord of 2020. Kabul's callous approach forced Islamabad to launch last month Operation Ghazab Lil Haq, specifically meant to take out the terrorists that are out to bleed Pakistan.

It is the non-cooperation on the part of the Taliban rulers as well as their extra-territorial designs in cahoots with India and Israel that the Pak-Afghan ties have boiled down to a formal rupture. It is, thus, soothing to hear that the foreign ministers of Pakistan and China were on the same wavelength, as they exchanged notes on ensuring tranquility in Afghanistan.

It is hoped that China, being a pacifist state with a non-interventionist foreign policy, would be able to prevail over the war-mongering Afghans to see reason in their bilateralism with Pakistan. It is a foregone conclusion that Taliban 2.0 had been ungrateful to the decades of benevolence exhibited by Islamabad, and had resorted to jingoism rather than being considerate on issues of peace and security.

The closure of the Pak-Afghan border at Chaman and Torkham and cross-border skirmishes across the great divide have pushed the bilateral relationship to its lowest ebb. That the ties need to be revived to bring about regional serenity goes without saying.

The trilateral forum involving Pakistan, China and Afghanistan can make great strides in brokering rapprochement. The proactive visits undertaken by Chinese diplomats to Kabul, and the reported realisation in the Southwest Asian country to take a break from its myopic approach, are laudable gestures.