China policy on Afghanistan leaves West trailing with criticism

Sometime in 2022, former Somalia Foreign Minister Abdisaid Muse appeared at a function sitting next to his Afghanistan counterpart Amir Khan Muttaqi; social media in the African country heated up.

Muttaqi is Foreign Minister of the Interim government of Afghanistan now led by the Talibans. His appearance at the function with other foreign ministers was hence expected. He had also met with then Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in March, becoming the highest ranked diplomat to tour Kabul at the time.

Over several months since they took power in August 2021, replacing the fleeing allied forces in Afghanistan, the Taliban have, however, blown hot and cold about their desire to get back into the formal international arena.

Their most consistent decrees, however, have riled the West as they have targeted specifically the life and careers of women.

Recently they banned women from working as humanitarian aid workers, something the UN has condemned. In December, they banned women from attending university, forcing a joint statement from Western Ministers.

The governments of the US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom joined the European Union to condemn the movie.

“These policies make clear the Taliban’s disregard for the human rights and fundamental freedoms of the people of Afghanistan,” they said.

“A stable, economically viable, and peaceful Afghanistan is only attainable and sustainable if all Afghans, including women and girls, can fully, equally, and meaningfully participate in and contribute to the country’s future and development.”

By count, the Taliban have issued at least decrees and edicts that, among others constrain women’s mobility, remove women from places of work like anchoring news, require head-to-toe coverings for women, ban women from using public spaces such as parks and gyms and leave widows and require male guardianship for all women.

Western countries say continual restriction of women will determine future engagements with Taliban leaders.

That does not mean Taliban have been all-evil. Last week, the Asia Foundation published a report ‘The Future Forecast in 2023’ which suggested that security situation in Afghanistan has improved since August 2021, as previous attacks were linked to the Taliban fighting the Western allied forces.

However, “on all other fronts the hardships that Afghans must endure have continued to grow, with rapidly rising poverty and unemployment, a collapsing economy, and desperately inadequate public services,” the report added.

“As a result of these unilateral policies, Afghanistan’s current regime remains unrecognised by the international community. The Taliban’s insistence on maintaining their highly authoritarian and restrictive model of governance could push this overwhelmingly aid-dependent country into a humanitarian catastrophe and a possible return to civil unrest.”

Yet the chaos in Kabul haven’t been shunned by some countries. China and Pakistan, for example, have since August 2021 kept an open-door policy in relating with Taliban including formally accrediting Taliban-appointed diplomats. China did not close its embassy in Kabul as others fled.

Wang Yu, China’s Ambassador to Kabul admitted the situation in Afghanistan may be dire but added that China will not interfere with the country’s affairs.

“China has always respected Afghanistan's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, the independent choices made by the Afghan people, and the religious beliefs and ethnic customs,” he argued in a commentary posted on the embassy website last month.

“China is willing to adhere to the common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security concept with Afghanistan, attach great importance to reasonable security concerns of each other, and cooperate to combat terrorist forces entrenched in Afghanistan and neighboring countries.”

When a bombast went off last week in Kabul killing five people and wounding 40 others, Beijing condemned the incident saying it abhors all forms of terrorism.  But Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Wang Wenbin added that “we hope Afghanistan will take resolute and effective measures to protect the safety of the people and institutions of China and all other countries in Afghanistan,” according to a statement shared with the media on Thursday.

On January 6, The Taliban signed a deal with a Chinese company to extract oil from northern Afghanistan’s Amu Darya basin. The agreement with China’s Xinjiang Central Asia Petroleum and Gas Company made it the first such deal under the Taliban.