New Afghan president Ashraf Ghani heads to China

The new Afghan president travels to China this week, signalling the pivotal role he hopes Beijing will play in his nation's future, not only in the economic reconstruction of the war-ravaged country after US and allied combat troops leave by the end of the year but also in a strategic foreign policy aimed at building peace across a region long riven by mistrust and violence.

Ashraf Ghani will leave Kabul today for a three-day visit to China, where he will meet President Xi Jinping, as well as potential investors to bankroll Afghanistan's development as it emerges from 30 years of war impoverished, wracked by corruption and still struggling to contain the Taliban insurgency.

He will lead a delegation of Afghan businessmen at a summit where he hopes to attract Chinese investment to develop a mining industry as the bedrock of the economy, after more than a decade of dependence on international military and aid largesse. He will also attend the multilateral Istanbul Ministerial Process to discuss regional security, economic and political issues.

The visit to China demonstrates Ghani's intention of utilising Afghanistan's natural resources as a trade-off for infrastructure and industry, to reverse the rapid decline in economic growth since the United States and its allies began withdrawing troops two years ago. Economic growth is forecast to fall 1.5 per cent this year, according to the World Bank. In 2013 growth was 3.7 per cent, down from 9.4 per cent the year before.

The country has an estimated US$3 trillion worth of natural resources, including copper, iron ore, silver, gold, coal, gems and minor metals. Little has been exploited because there is no infrastructure and war continues. China is active in oil production in Afghanistan's north.

Before Ghani can be sure that dollars flow from words, he needs to give assurance that work can proceed unimpeded by insurgency. So he is pursuing a foreign policy "aimed at creating mutual trust and reassurance among all our neighbours so that we can build trade and transit links," said Hamidullah Farooqi, a professor of economics at Kabul University and presidential adviser.