The first round of tripartite talks between Foreign Ministers of China, Pakistan and Afghanistan have concluded with a number of positive messages emerging from the meeting. The talks were result of the initiative undertaken by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi who had visited both Afghanistan and Pakistan earlier this year.
The joint press release issued after the talks highlighted a number of important developments. The three sides reaffirmed their commitment to improving their relations, deepening mutually beneficial cooperation, advancing connectivity under the Belt and Road Initiative, and fighting terrorism in all its forms and manifestation without any distinction. It was agreed to jointly work together on political mutual trust and reconciliation, development cooperation and connectivity, security cooperation and counter-terrorism as three topics of the trilateral cooperation.
The three sides reaffirmed that a broad-based and inclusive peace and reconciliation process, which is “Afghan-led, Afghan-owned”, and fully supported regionally and internationally, is the most viable solution to end the violence in Afghanistan. In this regard, they call on the Afghan Taliban to join the peace process at an early date.
The three sides agreed to conduct win-win trilateral economic cooperation, with an incremental approach, starting from the easier initiative to the more difficult ones. The three sides agreed to continue economic development cooperation in areas of mutual interest, and expressed willingness to strengthen people-to-people contacts.
The three sides reiterated their firm resolve to fight the menace of terrorism. They expressed their strong determination not to allow any country, organization or individual to use their respective territories for terrorist activities against any other countries. The three sides agreed to strengthen counter-terrorism coordination and cooperation in an effort to combat all terrorist organizations and individuals without any discrimination. The three sides will communicate and consult on developing of the Memorandum of Understanding on Counter-Terrorism Cooperation.
The Chinese Foreign Minister Wang also hinted that China and Pakistan can look at extending their multibillion dollar CPEC project to Afghanistan. If such an initiative materializes it will establish a strong economic relation between the three countries and will give a boost to the economy of war torn Afghanistan.
China in recent months has put special emphasis in trying to normalize ties between Pakistan and Afghanistan. The increasing role of China in regional issues will surely send alarm bells ringing in the United States but bodes well for the region. Despite the positives emerging from the talks, Pakistan and China will have to be cautious as the potential soothing of relations with Afghanistan will not go down well with United States and India, both countries maintain their own interests in the war torn country.
The talks, a result of Chinese shuttle diplomacy will go a long way in improving ties between Pakistan and Afghanistan.