China's Involvement In Afghanistan After 2014:opportunities And Challenges

China being the emerging great power and peacefully rising state needs peace and stability in her neighborhood.As uncertainty in Afghanistan have negative effects while peaceful and stable Afghanistan is required for China rise and fulfilling“Chinese Dream 2050”.Afghanistan is facing terrorism and serious law and order situation since long which is a serious concern for China.She has strategic,economic and political interests in this neighbouring country.In the aftermath of war on terror US has announced it withdrawal plan of post-2014 which created both opportunities and Challenges to China.This study is mainly focus on the question that “Why China has enlarged its' level of involvement in Afghanistan after 2014? what are the opportunities China has and what are the challenges China has been faced?” This study is an attempt to know about China's involvement in Afghanistan in post 2014 era,and highlight the opportunities which both the countries as well as strive to know about the challenges which faced in the post 2014 era.In post 2014 era China is following a four(4)points approach in her foreign policy towards Afghanistan.First;working to bring peace,second;developing its economy,third;strengthening governance and fourth;acquiring international support.China is struggling on humanitarian base and contributing in the rebuilding of the conflict-ridden State.China is emerged as the largest foreign investor in Afghanistan.Beijing is also working to include Afghanistan in its BRI initiatives,building its economy,providing huge amount of aid,strengthening its defence and providing training facilities to Afghan officials to strengthen institutions.China is also playing very important role in the peace process and supporting “Afghanistan owned and Afghanistan based” peace process.Her role is very important as due to its soft image all concerned parties are believing on China.But China is also facing many Challenges,such as terrorism development and power politics of regional and extra regional countries' intervention.This research study has been divided into five chapter based on the aspects containing the theme.The first Chapter titled “Introduction” briefly introducing the issue concerned,showing the research gap as well as the importance of this study.Along with this the first chapter also discusses the objective of the study determined,research questions thesis is striving to answer,the research methodology,theoretical framework and literature review available on this problem.The second Chapter titled “Historical Overview of China's Involvement in Afghanistan” is throwing detail light on the Chinese involvement in Afghanistan especially.It has analyzed different dimensions of China's involvement in Afghanistan and the post-2014 scenario created by US withdrawal.Chinese main foreign policy shift in post 2014 era is strengthening her role in peace process,institution building,economic aid,foreign direct investment and improving defence capabilities of Afghanistan.The geo-strategic and economic worth of Afghanistan as well as China's massive investment in this country reflecting a wish of both states to more enlarge their bilateral relations and bilateral collaboration in all fields especially in economic and defence areas.Presently,some Chinese firms are involved in numerous construction and economic projects of national importance in different areas of Afghanistan.At present China emerged being the biggest foreign investor in Afghanistan mainly in mineral and energy sectors,which is very positive for bringing peace,stability and prosperity in war turned Afghanistan.The third Chapter titled “Opportunities of China's Involvement in Afghanistan”is dealing with the second part of the thesis title.The Chinese large-scale economic investment in Afghanistan have primary importance in bringing peace,prosperity,constancy and stability in war turned Afghanistan.China has many economic interests which are opposing with other foreign players in Afghanistan,but China has leverage over other stake holder due to its soft image in Afghanistan as well as five principles of peaceful coexistence.Chinese approach is different from U.S.and her allies approach in Afghanistan.U.S.and her allies say that peace can bring economic development and prosperity in Afghanistan while China has of the opinion that economic development can probably bring peace,stability and prosperity in Afghanistan.At this point,U.S.and other Western countries who are fighting in Afghanistan paid little consideration to the role played by China in Afghanistan which is fundamental for restoring peace and security in the state because poverty and lack of economic opportunities lead to conflicts and anarchy in any state including Afghanistan.In Afghanistan this is the core reason behind terrorism as terrorist organizations can easily get man power for themselves in a poor society.Theeconomic support and assistance of China is not required only to boost up already exhausted economy of Afghanistan but also necessary to decrease its depend on U.S.and Western aid.The fourth chapter titled “Challenges to China's Involvement in Afghanistan”critically analyzed the challenges creating by US withdrawal from Afghanistan.Afghanistan is facing long destabilization,terrorism,foreign occupation,weak state institution,civil war and serious economic instability.The US announcement of withdrawal creating vacuum in Afghanistan need to be filed.It has also creating a lot of security challenges not only within Afghanistan but for the whole region.The main challenges the presence of US who is the main competitor of China in regional as well as in global politics,insecurity to Chinese projects and interests,terrorism militancy,law and order situation,proxy wars,power politics of regional and extra regional players,low economic profile of Afghanistan and disability in Afghanistan are some leading issue which are affecting Chinese involvement in Afghanistan.In this circumstance since 2014 China-Afghanistan relationship established well,but there are still many underlaying problems primarily security which is creating problems for China to work freely.The fifth Chapter titled “Conclusion and Recommendations” has concluded the whole discussion done in the respective chapter and also presented some concreate recommendations about how to tackle these issues and make Chinese involvement in Afghanistan more strong and mutually beneficial.