US, China in dispute over who should draft UNSC resolutions on Afghanistan

Richard Gowan, the UN Director at the International Crisis Group, said on Friday that United States and China have been at odds over who should draft Afghanistan resolutions in the Security Council, adding that the debate has escalated since President Donald Trump took office.

In an article published on the website of an American organization called Just Security, Gowan wrote that the dispute has significant implications not only for how the UN engages with the Islamic Emirate in Kabul, but also for how Beijing positions itself as a leading power in the Security Council.

In UN parlance, penholders are the council members that “initiate and chair” the drafting of mandates, tabling the initial versions of texts for negotiations. The nation that “holds the pen” on a given file has significant leeway to set the terms for how the council approaches a peace operation or sanctions regime.

China, to date, has stood apart from the other permanent members. While it co-drafted some resolutions with the United States on North Korea in the 2010s, it has wielded the pen on no other country-specific issues on the council agenda.

This is despite the fact that Beijing has become more willing to assert itself in other ways in the council – such as casting its veto – in recent decades. 

However, last fall, China indicated that it wished to act as penholder on Afghanistan.

Beijing has a number of reasons to focus on Afghanistan and the U.N. Assistance Mission there (UNAMA). Beijing appears to see a continuing U.N. presence in Afghanistan as suiting its interests. Beijing is both wary about Afghanistan as a potential haven for terrorists, and intrigued by its mineral wealth, according to Gowan.