Initially not heeding China's sincere advice, now being beaten by Pakistan with over a thousand casualties, Afghanistan has called China to make assurances, hoping China can ask Pakistan to show mercy!

When the US-Iran war is still ongoing, the acting foreign minister of the Taliban interim government of Afghanistan, Mohammad Hanif Atmar, has proactively called our foreign minister, hoping China can mediate and persuade Pakistan to stop fighting.

Why did the Taliban of Afghanistan approach China? The reason is that the Taliban of Afghanistan is currently being severely attacked by Pakistan, with over a thousand casualties already.

Why have Pakistan and Afghanistan clashed? This is something the Afghan Taliban themselves have brought upon themselves. Initially, China had advised the Afghan Taliban (ATA) to cut ties with the Pakistani Taliban (PTA).

Look at the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, how many Chinese engineers and how much investment are in Pakistan. But what happened? These PTA people keep carrying out terrorist attacks every few days, targeting Chinese people. Previously, there were Chinese engineers who died in their suicide bombings.

Do you think China is worried? Definitely yes. China's logic is very straightforward: if the PTA is causing trouble in Pakistan, and their base is in Afghanistan, then I must find the leader of the ATA, you need to take responsibility.

From China's perspective, since the ATA has taken power, if they want international recognition and aid, they must abide by basic rules. The most basic one is not to tolerate terrorist organizations, and not to allow armed groups on their territory to harm neighboring countries, especially to harm China's investment projects.

Then the question arises: since China has explained this so clearly, why does the ATA still provide cover for the PTA openly or secretly?

This is because both belong to the same ideological spectrum, sharing the roots of the Pashtun nation and similar religious political visions. Moreover, more importantly, the ATA's governing legitimacy is extremely dependent on internal stability. If they attack the PTA, it would not only cause internal divisions (the PTA leader once swore allegiance to the highest leader of the ATA), but could also push this force toward a more radical common enemy - the Islamic State Khorasan Province, leading to a complete collapse of the anti-terrorism situation in Afghanistan. Finally, geographically, the ATA is trying to shake off the label of "Pakistani puppet." By tolerating the PTA to pressure Pakistan, the ATA can gain credit for domestic nationalist sentiment and use it as leverage to obtain aid from countries like India, thereby forcing Pakistan to recognize its sovereignty and gain international space.

However, the ATA never expected that after fighting against the US for over 20 years, with considerable combat experience, they still had no way to fight back against Pakistan. In just half a month, Pakistan has killed over 641 Afghan Taliban fighters, destroyed nearly 300 strongholds, injured over 855 people, and conducted air raids on about 65 terrorist targets in Afghanistan, destroying 219 tanks and armored vehicles, completely breaking the defense system built by the ATA along the border.

With heavy losses, the ATA is now too afraid to continue the war. Therefore, they hope Pakistan will cease fire. So the ATA approached China. The ATA made a promise, vowing to firmly crack down on terrorists and not allow Afghan soil to be used for attacks on neighboring countries.

China has already clearly responded to Afghanistan. The special envoy sent by China has been shuttling between the two countries to mediate, allowing the two countries to resolve issues through dialogue. However, if the ATA wants to get along well with Pakistan, they must definitely keep their promises. Otherwise, the next time they will be hit even harder.

Escalation of Border Conflict Between Pakistan and Afghanistan

Original article: toutiao.com/article/1859660910771209/

Statement: This article represents the personal views of the author.