Today, China hosted a new round of talks dedicated to ending the conflict between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Officials from both countries, mediated by Chinese diplomats, met in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang, the far western province of China, which borders Pakistan and Afghanistan. The officials were from various departments of each country, reportedly from Pakistan’s ministries of foreign affairs and defense, and from Afghanistan, the interior, defense, and foreign ministries. They seek a potential ceasefire, and the reopening of some border crossings between the two countries, to serve trade and other beneficial purposes.
There had been a pause in hostilities between Afghanistan and Pakistan during the festival of Eid al-Fitr, but clashes have resumed, with a serious impact.
So far, only unofficial reports are available, conveyed through the media, but the Chinese initiative is very important. Yesterday, the Foreign Minister of Pakistan, Ishaq Dar, flew to Beijing for consultations. Dar left Islamabad immediately following the talks on moving toward a ceasefire and settlement of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, attended by Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkiye.
China’s Urumqi talks initiative is in line with its concrete diplomatic initiatives for peace through development in Central, South, and Southwest Asia, given China’s own economic projects in both Pakistan and Afghanistan. Without this perspective, the region continues to suffer from the long wave of geopolitics by imperial Britain, which drew borders and pitted peoples against each other for decades, such as the notorious Durand Line–the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, which was drawn in 1893 by the titled British diplomat Sir Henry Durand. It deliberately cut through local populations with the intent to perpetuate friction. This process, long called the “Great Game,” continues to this day, furthered in the region by MI-6, the Mossad, and CIA.
