China refuses to implement Silk Road project in Afghanistan

Officials in Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that China has refused to impalement Silk Road project in Afghanistan.

According to them, to transfer its commercial property China has replaced Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan instead of Afghanistan.

The Chamber of Commerce concerns over intensification of insecurity; adding there is the possibility of losing other economic projects in Afghanistan.

The New Silk Road concept was first presented in public by the president of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping, in September 2013 during his visit to Kazakhstan. He came up with the proposal to create a Silk Road Economic Belt. In October 2013, during his trip to Indonesia, he presented a parallel initiative, the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. The idea of reviving the Silk Road became popular in China in the media and expert circles, who coined the slogan “One Belt and One Road”.

Throughout 2014, the concept gradually came to be the pivotal issue in China’s foreign policy and, to a lesser extent, in its domestic policy. Initially, it remained vague and did not envisage that institutional action would be taken as part of its implementation. However, the Chinese government created a financial framework of the New Silk Road towards the end of 2014. Xi Jinping declared that China would be establishing a US$40 billion New Silk Road Fund. The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), which was founded by China and twenty other Asian countries in November 2014, will be an additional source of funds. In January 2015 it was promised that a private Energy Development Fund would be created. This fund is planning to attract investments worth US$20 billion as part of the implementation of the New Silk Road concept.

The Silk Road is one of the important economic projects for Afghanistan that canceled due to increase of insecurities in the country.

“Insecurities in the north caused China changes its decision and a number of neighboring countries also create problems for our large economic projects,” Hashim Rasouli, spokesman of chamber of commerce said.

The Chamber also warned National Unity Government leaders to lose other important economic projects if they do not stop their differences.

However the ministry of commerce and industry considered these statements incorrectly.

Sources maintain that Afghan government asked Beijing to help connect both countries via a land route in the northern Wakhan corridor and discussions regarding this issue took place between Ashraf Ghani and Chinese officials during the Afghan President visit toChina last October.

Afghanistan needs to minimize its dependence upon Pakistan and Iran for its trade shipments due to instable relations with these countries. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, who has served at the World Bank and has excellent relations among World Bank establishment, is pursuing to find finances from World Bank to construct expressway from Kabul to Chinese border through its Azure route passing via Wakhan belt.

The prospects for a stable and prosperous Afghanistan, following the withdrawal of NATO-Isaf forces in the post-2014 period, will largely depend upon Afghanistan’s ability to sustain economic growth, provide goods and services to its people, reduce its dependence upon international aid, and realise its natural resource deposits.

Thus an Afghanistan connected to the South and Central Asian region through the revitalisation of the ancient Silk Road, will not only help re-establish Afghanistan as a land-bridge, but also help sustain its economy by facilitating and connecting the transit of goods and energy across the region.