On July 14, a Chinese engineer's bus was "attacked" in an area near Das in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), Pakistan. Dams are under construction near Das, but the bus carrying them exploded on the way to the site and fell into a nearby river. It is reported that 13 people have died, including 9 Chinese. The construction of this dam was part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and was, so to speak, a vital project in China. (Photo taken from Yahoo image)
Pakistan's Minister of Information and Communications tweeted on the 15th that he had found traces of explosives. The Pakistani side initially claimed that the case was an "accident" due to a gas leak, but it was pushed by the Chinese side's elucidation of the truth and the thorough demand for ensuring the safety of Chinese people, and admitted that it was a terrorist attack.
The Chinese embassy in Pakistan has also issued a statement stating that "nine Chinese people involved in the dam construction project and the Pakistani side have also died" and "the cause is under investigation." Although it does not use the word terrorism, it calls on local Chinese to refrain from going out unnecessarily.
Has the United States ever started withdrawing from Afghanistan against this background? The Taliban's power grows day by day and naturally affects the situation in Pakistan. The Afghan Pashtuns have the second largest population in Pakistan, and the KPK in which the incident occurred is the Pashtun state. The Taliban announced that it had taken control of the Pakistani border the same day the incident occurred.
Balochistan is famous for terrorist attacks on China. Although Balochistan is a resource-rich land, ethnic conflicts have been smoldering since the founding of Pakistan, and China has advanced into it, complicating the situation. Not only Baroch nationalist forces but also Islamic extremists are participating in the Chinese attack.
The Chinese attack may be a quick way to get the support of the locals. China is said to have once supported the Mujahideen fighting the Soviet Union through the Sino-Soviet conflict. It can be said that there is room for trading with the Taliban compared to the United States with the tide. China may fill the power vacuum created in Afghanistan with the withdrawal of the United States, but is also said to be afraid to boost Xinjiang's anti-Chinese forces.
The Taliban should understand it, too. In the future, the Taliban will use its affiliated forces within Pakistan's territory to attack Chinese and Chinese-related facilities, while attempting to deal with or extort China through the Inter-Services Intelligence Agency, which is the contact point between the Pakistani state and terrorist organizations. It is possible. The background of the incident remains unclear, but it suggests that the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan and the expansion of the Taliban's power could have an unexpected impact on China's Belt and Road Initiative.
Roni Namo
Ethnic writer living in Tokyo. Since he encountered the Kurdish problem while attending college, he has continued to cover and analyze political movements of ethnic minorities, mainly Kurds. He was taught Kurdish (Kurdish) by Kurds and is probably the only Japanese who can use Kurdish. He has completed the translation of a Japanese novel into Kurdish (unpublished). Currently focusing on learning Arabic. He has also learned Persian and Turkish. He is training to become a multilingual journalist.
