The dragon and the elephant have come together for the benefit of Afghanistan. As part of this joint project, which owes much to the Wuhan Summit, 10 Afghan diplomats will be jointly trained by India and China at the Foreign Services Institute in Delhi.
“This marks the beginning of what we visualise as a long-term, trilateral partnership for the benefit of Afghanistan,'' said External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.
Both India and China have competing interests in Afghanistan. While India has pledged its commitment to Afghanistan and there is also a great deal of trust and friendship between the two, China has made inroads into Afghanistan the usual way—with tonnes of money.
The question is how long this coming together of India and China will last, especially at a time when the two countries are fighting to gain influence in South Asia.
''Indian government has embarked on an ambitious development partnership programme with commitment of over $3 billion,'' said Swaraj. There are projects that will take years to complete—drinking water supply for Kabul city by building Lalandar dam and rehabilitation of refugees by providing low-cost housing in Nangarhar.
The promise of a joint project for Afghanistan has the potential to be a gamechanger. While the training of diplomats is a soft way of marking this “important step forward''—as Wang Yi, the foreign minister of China, put it in his message—the real cooperation would begin if China can promise on easing connectivity for Afghanistan.
“The training of diplomats seem to be largely a symbolic gesture,'' said professor Gulshan Sachdeva of Jawaharlal Nehru University. “Both India and China have been training Afghan diplomats on their own. One hoped that this joint collaboration would be on something more concrete. But India and China are talking about Afghanistan. It is a good beginning if there is a bigger project later.''
Regional connectivity is an area that China does seem to want to cooperate on. The Chinese Ambassador to India, Luo Zhaohui, said both the sides should cooperate on connectivity projects with Iran and Pakistan, and extend it to smaller countries in South Asia. “We are talking about connectivity projects like International North–South Transport Corridor and India-Iran-Afghanistan transit and trade corridor. We are also talking about connectivity of China-Pakistan-Afghanistan.”
The Pakistan option might just be the break Afghanistan needs. With China having influence on Pakistan, and pushing it to open up its borders for trucks to pass through to Afghanistan, cooperation in this area will go a long way. Can the dragon and elephant make that work?