Recently, the deputy spokesman of the Taliban Foreign Ministry revealed in an interview with the media that China has decided to provide 100 million yuan for assistance to migrants who have just returned from Pakistan. It is reported that the money will be used for various aspects such as medical care and education. And the reason why China has come to the aid again is due to multiple considerations.
For many Afghans, returning home requires packing and returning to Afghanistan via horse, donkey, motorbike or tour group, which is a costly process, but the harder part is yet to come. As everyone knows, Afghanistan is facing various difficulties such as poverty and inadequate medical services, and it is simply unable to afford the livelihood of these hundreds of thousands of people, and even resettlement is a problem.
In fact, since November last year, the Pakistani government has been going through the process of expelling illegal immigrants from Afghanistan, stipulating that those who do not have legal residence permits must leave Pakistan as soon as possible, otherwise they will face expulsion. It is important to know that due to the interweaving of various factors such as history and war conflicts, about 4 million Afghans live in Pakistan, and about half of them do not have residence permits.
[Afghan illegal immigrants deported from Pakistan]
It is conceivable that if Pakistan were determined to expel illegal Afghan immigrants, it would put enormous economic and resettlement pressure on Afghanistan. But when it comes to this, there is no one right or wrong. Pakistan is also doing this out of the consideration of safeguarding national security and political stability.
Some time ago, there was an attack on a Chinese engineer in Pakistan. At that time, local Pakistani militants drove a car full of explosives into a convoy of the Chinese-funded Dasu hydropower project in Cape Province, causing one of the cars to crash into a deep valley on the Karakoram Highway, killing five Chinese and one Pakistani.
After this incident, China attaches great importance to this incident and demands that the Pakistani government thoroughly investigate and severely punish the criminals, and at the same time implement effective measures to ensure the safety of Chinese citizens, institutions and projects in Pakistan and ensure that similar incidents do not happen again. At the same time, the China Power Construction Corporation (PCCC) also suspended operations on the hydropower project and laid off more than 2,000 workers.
Seeing China's tough attitude, the Pakistani government did not dare to delay in the slightest and quickly began to investigate. It didn't take long for Pakistan to detain more than 12 people, including Afghan citizens, in connection with the terrorist attack that killed the Chinese engineer and his driver. Now Pakistan is again deporting migrants to express its displeasure with Afghanistan's failure to deliver on its counterterrorism commitments.
[Suicide attack on Chinese enterprise vehicle]
But for Atta, who has just been in power for more than two years, he will be powerless in the face of these hundreds of thousands of refugees, and there is a high probability that he will quarrel or quarrel with Pakistan during this period. To make matters worse, Afghanistan and Pakistan have not agreed on the implementation of this policy, and such a mass deportation of migrants will inevitably lead to security tensions. And just last month, the two countries had just clashed once, and there is a good chance of another exchange of fire. And once this happens, it may even have a knock-on effect on neighboring countries and regions.
At present, China is helping the deported Afghan migrants in order to help Atta financially and reduce the possibility of conflict between Afghanistan and Pakistan over migration. It has to be said that in order to mediate relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan, China can be said to have broken its heart.
But then again, China seems to be helping Afghan migrants, but in fact it is benefiting ourselves.
[Atta previously promised to intensify the crackdown on terrorist organizations]
Geographically, China shares direct borders with Afghanistan and Pakistan, and stable relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan are essential to the security and stability of China's Xinjiang region. Xinjiang is also an important passage connecting China to Central Asia and even the Eurasian continent, and its security and stability directly affect China's national security and border stability.
In addition, Pakistan is a key country in China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which aims to boost trade and economic development in Eurasia, especially the Gwadar port project, which is crucial for China. Reconciling relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan can help create a more stable regional environment for the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative.
More importantly, Pakistan and Afghanistan are on the front lines of the global fight against terrorism. At a time when Pakistan is expelling refugees, instability in both countries could develop into a hotbed of activities for terrorist groups, which poses a direct threat to China's security. By reconciling relations between the two countries and maintaining regional stability, China will be better able to ensure its own security.
In general, China's assistance to Afghan migrants is not only for humanitarian reasons, but also for its own security and strategic interests. But Atta also needs to understand that China can help for a while, but not for a lifetime, and the immediate priority is to draw a clear line with terrorist organizations and fulfill the promises made when he came to power, and if the problem is not fundamentally solved, it will be difficult for relations with Pakistan to turn around, let alone return to the international community.