China is wary on opening new road with Afghanistan

After the Taliban announced that they have completed its first road link between Afghanistan and China, Beijing has been cautioned about giving its neighbor full access to its land border due to security issues.

It has been feared that terrorists and separatist militants could use this road which is located in Badakhshan province to penetrate inside Chinese territory. Meanwhile, China so far also has no intention to bring custom facilities where Afghanistan meets the autonomous Xinjiang. Chinese media reported that Beijing has no intention to add a formal crossing point in this area. The Chinese border guards are patrolling in Wakhjir Pass at the eastern end of the Wakhan Corridor where the road is located and connects Afghanistan and China by land.

The construction of the road even started before the return of the Taliban in power. The construction began in May 2021, and the Taliban seized power on 15 August the same year following the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan after 20 years of presence, the longest in the history of the US. The project worth 5.07 million US dollars conceived by the former US-backed government in order to attack Chinese investment in Afghanistan’s untapped mining resources. However, the Taliban has completed the construction of the 50Km Little Pamir Road in Badakhshan, and the Taliban are eager to inaugurate the road.

Afghanistan hopes to boost commerce and cross-border transit with China

Mohammad Ayub Khalid, the Taliban governor for Badakhshan province said that this road has been completed with a hope to improve and boost commerce, imports and exports and cross-border transit between the two neighbors.

Mirza Mohammad Shakib, head of provincial office of the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development said that construction of 40 km road has been completed and work on the remaining 10 km has been underway. He said that this road will connect Afghanistan with China and considered it as a big achievement in areas of improving the economy.

Meanwhile, an Afghan military expert said that the Taliban has failed to eradicate terrorist groups in Afghanistan and that’s why China is warrying on reopening the land border with Afghanistan.

Taliban says connecting with China via land border is priority

Mohammad Radmanesh, an expert on military affairs, said China doesn’t not want to spend money on projects which are of no use and blamed Taliban for Beijing’s rejection to embrace the road.

The exact location of Afghanistan’s Little Pamir Road has not been disclosed, but it is understood to reach the Chinese border via the narrow and barely accessible strip of land called the Wakhan Corridor. AFP

“The current situation has changed based on the negative performance of the Taliban, and many projects have been suspended due to the existence of anti-Taliban movements and this is not a good sign for the Taliban,” he added.

“The Chinese want to see the implementation of this project because this will connect the two countries by land and China is not weak that it should be afraid of tiny groups like Daesh or other terrorist groups which are not so active in Afghanistan,” an official said.

“China has a strong army and Beijing knows that terrorist groups in Afghanistan no longer exist,” the official told Harici on condition of anonymity. He said that in the last several months no major security incident had happened and also assured that the Taliban security officials were working day and night to further improve the security.

He said that one of the priorities of the Taliban government is to have a land border with China and at the same time working on security issues.

Besides security issues that China has apparently restricted full access to its land border with Afghanistan, experts believe that this road is not too useful in terms of improving the economy.

Expert says Wakhan Corridor is largely unusable and has no economic viability

Chinese Professor at Lanzhou University, Zhu Yongbiao said that the Wakhan Corridor is largely unusable and has no economic viability due to its challenging mountainous terrain.

He said that the road itself is largely devoid of practical access and doubts that Afghanistan could build highways in the high-altitude Wakhan Corridor.

“China must have its security considerations. This road is not economically worthwhile, but it must have security risks,” Zhu quoted by South China Morning Post, as saying.

China has been considering Wakhjir Pass as a major counterterrorism front line between Afghanistan and Xinjiang militants and that’s why it exercises extreme caution for having a land border.

At the same time China is trying to have balance in its relation with Afghanistan since the withdrawal of foreign troops and also didn’t recognize the Taliban government like the rest of the world.

Though the Taliban are willing to have a strong tie with China, especially in economic areas, but Beijing is deeply worried about terrorism spilling into Xinjiang from Afghanistan.