Beijing Ramps Up Investment Push in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Despite Risks

Radio Free Europe

28 September 2020

This article also appeared in American MIliatry News

China is cautiously increasing its role in South Asia by rejuvenating economic interests in Pakistan and forging closer ties to Afghanistan with peace talks between Afghan officials and the Taliban under way. There are several other developments inside Pakistan that could greatly slow down China’s ambitions in the country. The Tehrik-e Taliban, Pakistan’s leading Taliban group, which operates out of Afghanistan, has announced the reunification of various splintered factions, leading some analysts to believe that Pakistan’s internal security problems could threaten Belt and Road Initiative projects. “Increasingly, China risks becoming a target in the region,” Research Fellow Abdul Basit, an expert on South Asian insurgent groups at RSIS. “But China has the support of the Pakistani military and its own channels in the region, so these types of threats are unlikely to stop Beijing from [pursuing] its goals.”

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