China's bigger role in Pakistan, Afghanistan
Next week, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is due to make her first trip to Beijing. She must make a case for China - a regional stakeholder - to play a greater role in stabilising Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The US is undertaking a major review of the war in Afghanistan. President Barack Obama has already indicated that America will probably scale back its objective there from installing a democracy to stabilising the nation and ridding it of terrorists.
The two main impediments to achieving stability in Afghanistan are a lack of resources, and Pakistan. Despite plans to send 30,000 US reinforcements, the total allied forces will not be able to cover the vast expanses of Afghanistan. Further manpower seems unlikely to materialise: Iraq is not going to simply go away and Nato is resisting deeper involvement.
Meanwhile, the tribal regions of Pakistan's northwest have given space for al-Qaeda and the Taleban to plan attacks on allied forces in Afghanistan. For eight months, the US has tried to fight inaccessible militants with drone attacks, but this tactic has only served to exacerbate tensions with Pakistani politicians and anger local tribes.
China could assist in both challenges. It has a strategic energy and economic interest in seeing that both nations remain stable. Pakistan and China's free-trade agreement saw more than US$6 billion in bilateral trade last year. They aim for US$15 billion in the coming years.
Beijing also considers Pakistan critical to energy security. The Gwadar port, along with a network of overland links through Pakistan, assures the convenient transport of Middle Eastern oil and gas to China.
In Afghanistan, China has deep interests in acquiring natural resources. In 2007, after President Hamid Karzai opened the country to foreign investment of natural resources, China Metallurgical Group won the rights to develop the world's largest undeveloped copper field, in Anyak, for US$3.5 billion.
Beijing can allay concerns in the international community over its growing influence if it shows - through action - that it is ready to contribute to stability in troubled areas in its own neighbourhood.
China can help in two primary ways: aid and troops. In Pakistan, China has been providing military aid for decades. This funding should increase to support Pakistani forces in rooting out violent militants. Developmental aid can also encourage tribes to reject militants.
China can help tackle the most urgent problem in Afghanistan - a lack of manpower - by lending some of its 1.7 million ground forces to the mission. Not only will this bring the stability necessary for economic development, but Pakistan would be much more comfortable with a large build-up of Chinese troops in Afghanistan rather than US forces.
Here, too, China must commit aid - not just business investment. Without sufficient infrastructure, Afghanistan will continue to see its resources extracted with minimal gain to its people, therefore remaining vulnerable to militants who might offer an alternative.
Kevin Slaten is a junior fellow in the China Programme at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
