OPINION> OP-ED CONTRIBUTORS
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OPINION> OP-ED CONTRIBUTORS
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Taking high road to Kabul
By Li Qinggong (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-10-30 08:08 Some US media have recently been in an uproar over China's reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan, accusing the country of concealing its ulterior motives in its violence-ravaged neighbor. On Oct 14, the NBC used such demagogic words as "resource-hungry China heads to Afghanistan" as the headline of a story. Earlier on Oct 6, the New York Times carried an article, complaining that "while America is sacrificing its blood and treasure, the Chinese will reap the benefits". In the op-ed, titled "Beijing's Afghan Gamble", the author Robert Kaplan noted that "China will find a way to benefit no matter what the United States does in Afghanistan. But it probably benefits more if we stay and add troops to the fight."
As a proximate neighbor to Afghanistan, China will not feel eased at the lingering chaos the country has been in and the miserable conditions its people have suffered. To help Afghanistan rebuild its seriously destroyed infrastructure, China has taken a series of initiatives, from reconstruction of hospitals, schools, railways and roads to renovation of power facilities. The country was also invited by China as the host to attend the eighth prime ministers' meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) members held in Beijing two weeks ago. At the meeting, Premier Wen Jiabao met with Afghan Vice-President Abdul Karim Khalili and promised to continue offering assistance to its neighbor in post-war reconstruction. "China will continue to encourage its capable and reputable domestic enterprises to invest in Afghanistan to intensify bilateral pragmatic cooperation in economic, trade and agricultural fields," Wen said. He also told the Afghan guest that China would continue to call on the international community to pay more attention to Afghan peoples' livelihood and help the country push forward its desperately needed economic and social development. The country's moves, which show its unswerving fulfillment of its long-promised international obligations for "peace and development" and have been warmly welcomed by Afghans, however, have invited ill-conceived criticism from some US media. This testifies to the US media's apathy toward the war in Afghanistan and the frequent incidence of violence within its territory. An eight-year-long war in Afghanistan is still far from realizing the US-promised targets for Kabul. It has also caused more losses than benefits to Afghan people. The US-led war may probably prove to be a never-to-be-won war. The erstwhile Soviet Union once had a 10-year-long war in the Islamic nation and finally ended up with withdrawal of its troops. Since the end of World War II, the US has launched a total of four wars in Asia, from the Korean Peninsula and Vietnam to Iraq and Afghanistan. The failure the US suffered in the other three battlefields indicates that withdrawal of its troops is possibly the best choice for the US to get out of the Afghanistan's quagmire. However, both the former US administration of George W. Bush and incumbent Barack Obama's think the other way. The Obama administration remained ambiguous in its stance when the Pentagon raised calls for reinforcement of US forces in Afghanistan not long ago, which was opposed by political circles and ordinary people in the US. As a result, the Pentagon raised a 11,000-member military rotating plan in Afghanistan, a move essentially equal to reinforcing the US military deployment in the country. Why have the US media, proclaiming to work for "democracy and freedom", failed to show any opposition to this? Following the US' troops withdrawal from Iraq, the Afghanistan war has increasingly remained an outstanding issue in the international community, with many nations becoming more and more concerned about its settlement. However, some countries insist on war as a solution to the issue in defiance of mainstream international opinion. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has even asked China to send troops to the Afghan battlefield. By raising such a request, Brown proves ignorant of China's long-standing stance of opposing the Afghanistan war and the country's long-cherished principle of "non-involvement" in the war or in any kind of military assistance programs. It is China's consistent stance that the Afghanistan issue should be resolved in a peaceful manner and it only pursues cooperation with other countries under this precondition. As a neighbor of Afghanistan, China is willing to cooperate with the US, the initiator of the war, on the premise that the US withdraws its troops from the country and return its people peace. Provided those preconditions are met, the two countries can be expected to boost cooperation in promoting much-needed reconciliation among Afghanistan's political factions, and deployment of international peacekeeping missions in its land and accelerating its reconstruction process. But any kind of Sino-US cooperation should be adopted in a gradual manner and in ways that could help ease mutual misgivings and enhance mutual trust. Also, China and the US could play a more active role and push for convening an international conference on Afghanistan to help the parties concerned sign a peace accord and include the country's security and stability in the framework of the UN Security Council. The author is deputy secretary-general of the China Council for National Security Policy Studies (China Daily 10/30/2009 page8) |
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