Additionally, Afghanistan and Pakistan are closely linked with each other by geography and history. The national reconciliation of Afghanistan cannot bypass Pakistan, which has insisted that the Afghan Taliban should be accepted in the country's political system to contend with the rising Indian influence in Afghanistan. India, however, has made efforts to strengthen ties with the Karzai administration, aiming to fill the power and security vacuum in Afghanistan after the U.S. troop withdrawal. The different strategic interests of other powers within Afghanistan have become another major barricade for the country to achieve lasting peace and stability.

China's role

China and Afghanistan are traditionally good neighbors. China has been participating actively in the postwar peace-building and reconstruction of Afghanistan. The two neighbors are connected not only by mountains and rivers, but also by a common destiny. The peace and stability of Afghanistan is of great significance to the stability of China's western region and efforts to combat terrorism, separatism and extremism and drug trafficking.

Firstly, turbulence in Afghanistan and Pakistan particularly threatens China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Reign. The terrorist attacks launched in Xinjiang by the East Turkistan Islamic Movement in collusion with Al Qaeda and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan have severely affected the stability of the whole region.

Secondly, with the terrorists' backflow to Central Asia and South Asia, drug trafficking and transnational crimes have become rampant. Drug smuggling in the Golden Crescent, with Afghanistan as its center, has increasingly penetrated into China's Xinjiang and Yunnan Province.

Thirdly, Afghanistan is rich in mineral resources and close to China geographically, which makes it very important for the diversification of China's resource suppliers.

Lastly, China is planning to further open to its western neighbors with the deepening of its economic reform and will strengthen cooperation with Central Asian countries. The new economic cooperation initiatives put forth by China's new leadership, such as the Silk Road Economic Belt, the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor as well as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, have provided significant opportunities for China and Afghanistan to expand cooperation.

Since an interim administration was established in Afghanistan in 2001 following the fall of the Taliban regime, the Chinese Government has rendered assistance to Afghanistan within its capability. China has provided much help in the construction of infrastructure projects in Kabul such as the National Center for Science and Education, and the Chinese Department building at Kabul University. China also provided intellectual support for the economic development of the country.

Chinese foreign direct investment in non-financial sectors in Afghanistan has reached nearly $500 million and projects contracted by Chinese companies in Afghanistan are worth almost $800 million. The China Metallurgical Group Corp.'s Aynak copper mine project and the China National Petroleum Corp.'s Amu Darya oil project are by far the largest foreign investment projects in the country. All these have shown China's sincerity to cooperate with Afghanistan and its confidence in the country's future development. The value of the mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Afghanistan cannot be replaced.

In addition, the two sides have conducted various forms of cooperation in the fields of defense, security, and law enforcement. Cooperation in culture, education, public health and media continue to expand as well. China's development has created great opportunities for Afghanistan's peace-building and reconstruction, and China's involvement has helped boost the self-development of the country.

China actively participates in international and regional cooperation on Afghan affairs. Against the backdrop of the planned withdrawal of NATO troops by the end of 2014, the changing situation in Afghanistan is closely related to regional peace and stability. The long-term stability and development of Afghanistan needs active participation and effective cooperation of the international community, especially countries in the region.

China supports Afghanistan's efforts to strengthen good neighborly relations with other countries in the region. This year, it will host the Fourth Ministerial Conference of the Istanbul Process—a platform aimed at expanding coordination between Afghanistan and its neighbors and regional partners—in Beijing, embodying China's support for Afghanistan's smooth transition and reconstruction as well as regional cooperation on the Afghan issue.

The author is an assistant research fellow with the China Institute of International Studies

Email us at: yanwei@bjreview.com