The China-Pakistan Axis: Asia's New Geopolitics

by Andrew Small

  47. James Mulvenon, “Chen Xiaogong: A Political Biography”, China Leadership Monitor, No. 22, Oct. 2013, p. 1, http://media.hoover.org/sites/default/files/documents/CLM22JM.pdf, last accessed 18 Nov. 2013.

  48. Rubin, Barnett R., The Fragmentation of Afghanistan: State Formation and Collapse in the International System, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002, p. 197.

  49. Yousaf, Mohammad and Mark Adkin, Afghanistan, The Bear Trap: The Defeat of a Superpower, Barnsley: Leo Cooper/Pen and Sword Books, 2001, p. 150.

  50. Ibid. p. 85.

  51. Mohan Malik, “Dragon On Terrorism: Assessing China’s Tactical Gains And Strategic Losses Post-September 11”, Carlisle, PA: U.S. Army Strategic Studies Institute, Oct. 2002, p. 11, http://www.Strategicstudiesinstitute.Army.Mil/Pdffiles/Pub57.Pdf, last accessed 27 Jan. 2014.

  52. Quoted in Vivek Katju, “The many roads to Kabul”, The Hindu, 15 Oct. 2013, http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/the-many-roads-to-kabul/article5234525.ece, last accessed 27 Jan. 2014.

  53. Faligot, Roger, Les services secrets chinois: de Mao aux JO (The Chinese Secret Service: From Mao to the Olympic Games), Paris: Nouveau Monde Editions, 2008, pp. 382–5.

  54. Vogel, Ezra F., Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2011, p. 539.

  55. Steve Coll, “In CIA’s covert Afghan War, where to draw the line was key”, Washington Post, 20 Jul. 1992.

  56. Coll, Steve, Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan and Bin Laden, London: Penguin, 2004, p. 66.

  57. Steve Coll, “In CIA’s”.

  58. Author interviews, Washington, DC, Feb. 2013.

  59. Rubin, The Fragmentation, p. 197.

  60. Yousaf and Adkin, Afghanistan, The Bear Trap, p. 84 and p. 109.

  61. Author interviews, Kabul, Aug. 2010 and Islamabad 2011.

  62. Amin Tarzi, “Afghanistan: new foreign minister steps out of obscurity”, RFE/RL, 20 Apr. 2006, http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1067792.html, last accessed 9 Dec. 2013; “Historical Overview of the Marxist Revolutionary Movement in Afghanistan and the Afghanistan Liberation Organization (ALO)”, http://a-l-o.maoism.ru/historical.htm, last accessed 27 Jan. 2014.

  63. Ibid.

  64. James Mulvenon, “Chen Xiaogong: A Political Biography”, China Leadership Monitor, No. 22, Oct. 2013, p. 2, http://media.hoover.org/sites/default/files/documents/CLM22JM.pdf, last accessed 18 Nov. 2013.

  65. Kaplan, Robert D., Soldiers of God: With Islamic Warriors in Afghanistan and Pakistan, New York: Vintage Departures, 2001, p. 39.

  66. Coll, “In CIA’s”.

  67. Coll, Ghost Wars, p. 11.

  68. Ibid., p. 150; Diego Cordovez and Selig S. Harrison, Out of Afghanistan: The Inside Story of the Soviet Withdrawal, New York: Oxford University Press, 1995, p. 196.

  69. Cordovez and Harrison, Ibid.

  70. Yousaf and Adkin, Afghanistan, The Bear Trap, p. 181.

  71. Steve Coll, “In CIA’s”.

  72. Hatch, Orrin, Square Peg: Confessions of a Citizen-Senator, New York: Basic Books, 2003, p. 102.

  73. Coll, Ghost Wars, p. 150.

  74. Mann, James, About Face: A History of America’s Curious Relationship with China, from Nixon to Clinton, New York: Knopf, 1998, p. 139.

  75. Yousaf and Adkin, Afghanistan, The Bear Trap, p. 181.

  76. Ibid., p. 182.

  77. Keller, Bill, “Last Soviet soldiers leave Afghanistan”, New York Times, 16 Feb. 1989, http://partners.nytimes.com/library/world/africa/021689afghanladen.html, last accessed 27 Jan. 2014.

  78. “Afghan gardeners and driver await return of Chinese ambassador”, People’s Daily, 17 Dec. 2001, http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200112/17/eng20011217_86859.shtml, last accessed 27 Jan. 2014.

  79. Ibid.

  80. Ahmed, Rashid, Taliban: Islam, Oil and the New Great Game in Central Asia, London: I.B.Tauris & Co. 2002, p. 58.

  81. Ibid. p. 49.

  82. “Security Council Tightens Sanctions against Taliban and Al-Qaeda”, UN News Centre, 30 Jan. 2004, http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=9630&Cr=qaida&Cr1=taliban#.UqXeu9JDt28, last accessed 9 Dec. 2013.

  83. Reed, J. Todd and Diana Raschke, The ETIM: China’s Islamic Militants and the Global Terrorist Threat, Washington, DC: Library of Congress, 2010, p. 71.

  84. LeVine, Steve, The Oil and the Glory: The Pursuit of Empire and Fortune on the Caspian Sea, New York: Random House, 2007, p. 307.

  85. Rashid, Taliban, p. 202.

  86. Ahmed Rashid, “Taliban temptation”, Far Eastern Economic Review, 11 Mar. 1999.

  87. “Taliban, China sign defence pact: Chinese scientists allowed access to US cruise missiles”, Frontier Post, 12 Dec. 1998, http://www.afghanistannews-center.com/news/1998/december/dec12c1998.htm, last accessed 27 Jan. 2014; John Hooper, “Claims that China paid Bin Laden to see cruise missiles”, Guardian, 20 Oct. 2001, http://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/oct/20/china.afghanistan, last accessed 27 Jan. 2014; “How China is advancing its military reach”, BBC News, 18 Jan. 2012, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-16588557, last accessed 27 Jan. 2014.

  88. Mohan Malik, “Dragon on Terrorism”, p. 8.

  89. Tara Shankar Sahay, “Taliban-China deal puzzles diplomats”, Rediff, 12 Feb. 1999, http://www.rediff.com/news/1999/feb/12tali.htm, last accessed 19 Nov. 2013.

  90. “Afghan foreign minister fails to meet Tang”, Agence France Presse, 25 Jul. 2000, http://www.afghanistannewscenter.com/news/2000/july/jul26f2000.html, last accessed 27 Jan. 2014.

  91. “Taliban envoy meets Chinese Foreign Ministry official”, IRNA, 25 Jul. 2000, http://www.afghanistannewscenter.com/news/2000/july/jul26f2000.html, last accessed 2 Feb. 2014.

  92. John W. Garver, “Future of the Sino-Pakistani Entente Cordiale”, in Michael R. Chambers (ed.), South Asia in 2020: Future Strategic Balances and Alliances, Carlisle, PA: U.S. Army War College, 2002, p. 434.

  93. Zaif, Abd al-Salam, My Life With the Taliban, New York: Columbia University Press, 2010, p. 135.

  94. Yusufzai, Rahimulla Yusufzai, “Chinese scholars leaving for Kabul, Kandahar today”, The News, 21 Nov. 2000, http://www.afghanistannews-center.com/news/2000/november/nov21p2000.htm; last accessed 27 Jan. 2014.

  95. Munawar Hasan, “Taliban team to visit China to boost trade”, The Nation, 21 Nov. 2000, http://www.afghanistannewscenter.com/news/2001/july/jul4p2001.html, last accessed 27 Jan. 2014.

  96. Bergen, Peter, The Longest War: The Enduring Conflict between America and Al-Qaeda, London: Free Press, 2011, p. 188.

  97. Zaeef, My Life, p. 135.

  98. Ibid.

  99. “Security Council imposes wide new measures against Taliban authorities in Afghanistan, demands action on terrorism”, UN Security Council press release SC/6979, 19 Dec. 2000, http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2000/20001219.sc6979.doc.html, last accessed 27 Jan. 2014.

  100. Mohan Malik, “Dragon On Terrorism”.

  101. Abu Mus’ab al-Suri, “The Call to Global Islamic Resistance”, quoted in Brian Fishman, “Al-Qaeda and the Rise of China: Jihadi Geopolitics in a Post-Hegemonic World”, Washington Quarterly, Summer 2011, http://csis.org/files/publication/twq11summerfishman.pdf, last accessed 26 Jan. 2014.

  102. Rashid, Ahmed, Jihad: The Rise of Militant Islam in Central Asia, New York: Penguin Group, 2003, p. 176 and p. 204.

  103. Zaeef, My Life, p. 126.

  104. Munawar Hasan, “Taliban team”.

  105. John Pomfret, “China strengthens ties with Taliban by signing economic deal,” International Herald Tribune, 13 Sep. 2001, http://www.propagandamatrix.com/china_economic_deal_taliban.html, last accessed 27 Jan. 2014.

  106. Funabashi, Yoichi, The Peninsular Question: A Chronicle of the Second Korean Nuclear Crisis, Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2007, pp. 266–7.

  107. Author interviews in Washington, DC, Nov. 2008.

  108. “FBI office opened in US embassy in Beijing”, People’s Daily, 25 Oct. 2002, http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200210/24/eng20
021024_105622.shtml, last accessed 27 Jan. 2014.

  109. Swaine, Michael D., America’s Challenge: Engaging a Rising China in the Twenty-First Century, Washington, DC: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2011, p. 231.

  110. Cockburn, Andrew, Rumsfeld: His Rise, Fall and Catastrophic Legacy, New York: Scribner, 2007, p. 125.

  111. Ibid.

  112. Shirley A. Khan, “China-U.S. Aircraft Collision Incident of April 2001: Assessments and Policy Implications”, CRS Report for Congress, Updated 10 Oct. 2001, https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL30946.pdf, last accessed 26 Jan. 2014.

  113. Musharraf, Pervez, In The Line Of Fire: A Memoir, New York: Free Press, 2008, p. 204–06.

  114. Author interviews, Islamabad, Jun. 2013.

  115. Willy Wo-Lap Lam, “Smoke Clears over China’s U.S. Strategy”, CNN, 26 Sep. 2001, http://edition.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/asiapcf/east/09/25/willy.column/, last accessed 19 Nov. 2013.

  116. Pollpeter, Kevin, U.S.-China Security Management: Assessing the Military-to-Military Relationship, Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2004, p. 31; John W. Garver, “China’s Influence in Central and South Asia: Is it Increasing?”, in David Shambaugh (ed.), Power Shift: China and East Asia’s New Dynamics, Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2005, p. 215.

  117. “U.S. ‘threatened to bomb’ Pakistan”, BBC News, 22 Sep. 2006, http:// news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/south_asia/5369198.stm, last accessed 27 Jan. 2014; see also the denials of this account in Daniel Markey, No Exit From Pakistan: America’s Tortured Relationship with Islamabad, loc. 3243 of 7903, 2013, New York: Cambridge University Press, [IPAD 3rd Generation; MD366LL/A version].

  118. Fazlur Rehhman, “Pakistan’s Evolving Relations with China, Russia, and Central Asia”, Acta Slavica Iaponica, No. 16, Slavic Research Center, 25 Jun. 2007, p. 215.

  119. Author interviews in Islamabad, Jun. 2013, and Beijing, Dec. 2012.

  120. “President Jiang Zemin had a telephone conversation with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf ”, Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 2 Feb. 2001, http://sa.china-embassy.org/eng/zt/fdkbzy/t154518.htm, last accessed 20 Nov. 2013.

  121. Khan, Riaz Mohammad, Afghanistan and Pakistan: Conflict, Extremism, and Resistance to Modernity, Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2010, p. 199.

  122. Daniel Korski and John Fox, “Can China Save Afghanistan?”, European Council on Foreign Relations, 29 Sep. 2008, http://www.ecfr.eu/content/entry/can_china_save_afghanistan/, last accessed 20 Nov. 2013.

  123. “First Fiber Optic Network in Afghanistan”, Wadsam.com, 2 Dec. 2012, http://www.wadsam.com/first-fiber-optic-network-in-afghanistan-798/,last accessed 27 Jan. 2014.

  124. Sean Cronin, “Chinese Contractor Snags Afghan Road building Work”, ENR: Engineering News-Record, Vol. 251, Issue 22, 22 Dec. 2003, p. 16, http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/11634154/chinese-contractor-snags-afghan-roadbuilding-work, last accessed 20 Nov. 2013.

  125. Peter Wonacott, “Afghan road project shows bumps in drive for stability”, Wall Street Journal, 17 Aug. 2009, http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB125046546672735403, last accessed 20 Nov. 2013.

  126. “China to repair Kabul hospital”, China Daily, 16 Jul. 2002, http://www.china.org.cn/english/Life/36999.htm, last accessed 20 Nov. 2013.

  127. “China-built hospital helps Afghan war victims in Kandahar”, Afghan Voice Agency, 2 Feb. 2013, http://avapress.com/vdcjmoei.uqea8z29fu.html,last accessed 20 Nov. 2013.

  128. Farid Behbud, “China-funded irrigation project helps boost farming in Afghanistan”, Xinhua, 8 Jan. 2012, http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/indepth/2012–01/08/c_131348931.htm, last accessed 20 Nov. 2013.

  129. “Kabul zoo gets lions, bears from China”, Associated Press, 3 Oct. 2002, http://cjonline.com/stories/100302/usw_zoo.shtml, last accessed 20 Nov. 2013.

  130. “Lion of Kabul roars his last”, BBC News, 26 Jan. 2002, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1783910.stm, last accessed 27 Jan. 2014.

  131. Alisa Tang, “Chinese prostitutes imported to Afghanistan”, USA Today, 14 Jun. 2008, http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/world/2008–06–14–2605427433_x.htm, last accessed 20 Nov. 2013.

  132. Rashid, Ahmed, Descent into Chaos: The U.S. and the Disaster in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia, London: Penguin Books, 2009, pp. 240–42.

  133. Ibid. p. 242.

  134. Bruce Riedel, Pakistan, Taliban and the Afghan Quagmire, Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 24 Aug. 2013, http://www.brookings.edu/research/opinions/2013/08/26-pakistan-influence-over-afghan-talibanriedel, last accessed 27 Jan. 2014.

  135. David Rhode, “Taliban officials tell of plans to grind down the Americans”, New York Times, 12 Sep. 2003, http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/12/international/asia/12TALI.html, last accessed 27 Jan. 2014.

  136. Gilles Dorronsoro, The Taliban’s Winning Strategy in Afghanistan, Washington, DC: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Jul. 2009, http://carnegieendowment.org/files/taliban_winning_strategy.pdf, last accessed 27 Jan. 2014.

  137. Riedel, Pakistan, Taliban.

  138. C.J. Chivers, “Central Asians call on U.S. to set a timetable for closing bases”, New York Times, 6 Jul. 2005, http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/06/international/asia/06kazakhstan.html, last accessed 27 Jan. 2014.

  139. Kimberly Marten, “Understanding the Impact of the K2 Closure”, PONARS Policy Memo, No. 401, Dec. 2005; Alexander Cooley, Base Politics: Democratic Change and the U.S. Military Overseas, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2008, pp. 230–32.

  140. Author interviews, Kabul, Aug. 2010.

  141. “China still meeting with Taliban”, Free Republic, 10 Sep. 2002, http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/747598/posts, last accessed 27 Jan. 2014.

  142. Author interviews, Washington, DC, Feb. 2012 and Beijing, Sep. 2012.

  143. Zhao Huasheng, China and Afghanistan: China’s Interest, Stances and Perspectives, Washington, DC: Centre for Strategic and International Studies, Mar. 2012, http://csis.org/files/publication/120322_Zhao_ChinaAfghan_web.pdf, last accessed 24 Jan. 2014.

  144. Paul Danahar, “Taleban ‘getting Chinese arms’”, BBC News, 3 Sep. 2007, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6975934.stm, last accessed 27 Jan. 2014.

  145. “Chinese weapons reaching Taliban”, One India News, 4 Sep. 2007, http:// news.oneindia.in/2007/09/04/chinese-weapons-reaching-taliban.xhtml, last accessed 9 Dec. 2013.

  146. Author interviews, Peshawar, Jun. 2013, and Washington, DC, May 2013.

  147. Donor Financial Review, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Ministry of Finance, Report 1388, Nov. 2009, p. 38, http://www.undp.org.af/Publications/KeyDocuments/Donor’sFinancialReview%20ReportNov2009.pdf,last accessed 27 Jan. 2014.

  148. Author interview in Kabul, Aug. 2010.

  149. Peter Wonacott, “Afghan road project shows bumps in drive for stability”, Wall Street Journal, 17 Aug. 2009, http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB125046546672735403, last accessed 27 Jan. 2014.

  150. Author interviews in Kabul, Aug. 2010.

  151. Ibid.

  152. Bernard Smith, “Afghan hospital in coma for poor workmanship”, Al Jazeera, 3 Oct. 2012, http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/10/201210210243520232.html, last accessed 27 Jan. 2014.

  153. “Chinese prostitutes arrested in Kabul ‘restaurant’ raids”, Independent, 10 Feb. 2006, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/chineseprostitutes-arrested-in-kabul-restaurant-raids-466118.html, last accessed 26 Jan. 2014.

  154. Author interviews in Kabul, Aug. 2010.

  155. “Eleven Chinese workers killed in Afghan attack”, China Daily, 10 Jun. 2004, http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004–06/10/content_338324.htm, last accessed 27 Jan. 2014.

  156. Keith B. Richburg, “As Taliban makes comeback in Kunduz Province, war spreads to Northern Afghanistan”, Washington Post, 19 Mar. 2010, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/18/AR2010031805399.html, last accessed 27 Jan. 2014.

  157. Michael Moran, “The �
��Airlift of Evil’”, Council on Foreign Relations, 29 Nov. 2001, http://www.cfr.org/pakistan/airlift-evil/p10301, last accessed 9 Dec. 2013.

  158. “Mystery surrounds attack on road workers”, China Daily, 13 Jun. 2004, http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004–06/13/content_338972.htm, last accessed 27 Jan. 2014.

  159. Qin Yuding, “Bodies of slain workers brought home”, China Daily, 14 Jun. 2004, http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004–06/14/content_339316.htm, last accessed 2 Feb. 2014.

  160. Gen. Mohammed Daoud, Kunduz military, paraphrased in Amir Shah, “10 Arrested in Afghan Killing of Chinese”, Associated Press, 13 Jun. 2004.

  161. Rashid, Taliban, pp. 184–7.

  162. “Hizb-i-Islami Gulbuddin (HIG)”, Institute for the Study of War, http://www.understandingwar.org/hizb-i-islami-gulbuddin-hig, last accessed 20 Nov. 2013.

  163. Syed Saleen Shahzad, “The new Afghan jihad is born”, Asia Times, 7 Sep. 2002, http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/DI07Ag02.html, last accessed 27 Jan. 2014.

  164. Mohammad Shezad, “Interview with Gulbuddin Hekmatyar”, Sikh Spectrum, Issue 17, Aug. 2004.

  165. Author interviews, Kabul, Aug. 2010.

  166. Ibid.

  167. Author interviews, Kabul, Feb. 2012.

  168. Michelle Nichols, “Ancient relics will delay huge Afghan copper mine”, Reuters, 5 Dec. 2010, http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/12/05/afghanistan-mcc-relics-idAFSGE6B401B20101205, last accessed 27 Jan. 2014.

  169. Alexandros Petersen, “China’s strategy in Afghanistan”, The Atlantic, 21 May 2013, http://www.theatlantic.com/china/archive/2013/05/chinas-strategy-in-afghanistan/276052/, last accessed 27 Jan. 2014.

  170. Missy Ryan and Susan Cornwell, “U.S. says Pakistan’s ISI supported Kabul embassy attack”, Reuters, 22 Sep. 2011, http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/22/us-usa-pakistan-idUSTRE78L39720110922, last accessed 27 Jan. 2014.

  171. Eric Schmitt and Alissa J. Rubin, “Afghanistan assaults signal evolution of a militant foe”, New York Times, 16 Apr. 2012, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/17/world/asia/afghan-assaults-signal-evolution-of-haqqaninetwork.html, last accessed 27 Jan. 2014.