Terror Attacks: Increasing terror activity in Afghanistan and Pakistan in recent times have impacted China’s interest in both countries. on December 12 last year terrorists struck at Longan Hotel, also known as Chinese Hotel, in central Kabul. Three terrorists were killed and two foreigners injured. A few days earlier on December 2, terrorists attacked the Pakistani embassy in Kabul. Both attacks had one thing in common. The Islamic State of Khorasan Province (ISKP) claimed credit for both the attacks.
This has security ramifications both for Chinese interests in Af-Pak region and for Pakistan as it shows that Rawalipindi GHQ and its chief promoter China no longer get a free terror pass in Afghanistan.
Analysts believe that there are Uighur elements within the ISKP group who are totally opposed to Communist Party of China (CPC) for oppression of Sunni Muslims in restive Sinkiang (Xinjiang) province. The terror attack on Longan Hotel reveals that Pakistani deep state is losing grip on the ISKP group with the Uighur elements gaining control of the Islamist group.
Beijing’s interests marred
Suicide bombing on April 26, 2022 by the proscribed Baluchistan Liberation Army (BLA) at Chinese propaganda Confucius Institute left three Chinese dead. Beijing’s interests in Af-Pak region are marred by these attacks and neither China nor Pakistan can ignore the linkage between the proscribed East Turkestan Islamic Movement, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and Baluchistan insurgent groups.
Pakista is the biggest debtor of China. In the past the country always ensured that the entire Muslim world including Iran and Turkiye ignored oppression of Uighur Muslims in Sinkiang province while totally ignoring the repression by CPC in Buddhist Tibet. The present political and economic chaos in Pakistan including the recent attacks are an indication of a clear Uighur terror threat to Chinese Belt Road Initiative in Af-Pak region and to the restive Sinkiang through the Wakhan Corridor.
Pakistan that has been backing terror since the 1990s with home bred Islamist groups, is now getting a taste of its own medicine. Today, home bred TTP is the biggest threat to the Pakistan Army and security police. The deadly attacks in Peshawar and Karachi recently are a proof. On the other side, Baluch and Sindh insurgent groups are targeting Chinese BRI.
Taliban at war with Rawalpindi
The Pakistani nightmare is not going to end anytime soon as its protégé Taliban is at loggerheads with Rawalpindi over the Durand Line. Kabul refuses to toe the ISI line despite the latter’s clout over supreme leader Mullah Hibatullah Akundzada.
It can’t be denied that only Taliban can take on the ISKP in Afghanistan and prevent attacks against third country in Kabul. Only Taliban have the capacity and capability to engage the hyper conservative Sunni Islamist force in so-called Khorasan province on ground. Taliban has managed to neutralize top terror leaders of ISKP in Afghanistan in the past and is the only force that can currently stabilize the war wrecked Afghanistan.
Political and economic space
In fact, if the Taliban leadership gives political and economic space to women, girls and other minorities, then the world could have a re-look at the Islamic Emirate under the Sunni Pashtun force.
Instead, Pakistan and its chief promoter China are both losing the plot in the region. And unless Pakistan-backed hardline Kandahar clerics go soft on their Sharia agenda, Talibanization of Pakistan is not very far.
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