In the second half of last October, the communication media presented a series of actions put into effect against the Taliban in Pakistan. The actions outside of the Afghanistan neighbor, cradle of the movement, suggest an increase in the capacity of these insurgents in their area of origin. Greater capacity can be obtained by the adhesion of new Pakistani sympathizers, indoctrinated and trained. The news report on civilian, military and insurgent  deaths, which activated explosives tied to their bodies or shot down by security members.

The fight against the insurgents has been difficult for the forces of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), led by the United States of America (USA). The challenges are not limited to the combat areas themselves, but also to the ground logistic support for the troops. Attacks against truck convoys in specific points have been frequent like the Khyber Pass, located in the  Pakistani province of Peshawar, frontier with Afghanistan. To avoid logistic strangulation, NATO tries to make other routes feasible: almost all the most extensive, except if they could be in the south of Pakistan. In this case, the route, as well as being shorter, would reach Afghanistan by the southwest from the Arabian Sea, for example, from the deep-sea port of Gwadar.

The Taliban movement envisages then, political instability in the region. Including countries which made up the then URSS, like Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Afghanistan itself, it can be stated that the movement provokes discomfort in Russia. The countries of central Asia are still linked to Russia by several interests; and they are situated in a region gifted with ample energy resources. And we cannot miss mentioning the war of almost a decade fought by the URSS in Afghanistan, in the  80`s of the XX century, exactly against the insurgents. And thus a region, which matters to the main actors of the international system, like, for example, China, already commented on in a previous article.

Pakistan was a prominent commercial and political ally of Beijing before the event of 11 September 2001, in the USA. Pakistan and China also had unresolved questions with India; soon, the identification of common interests facilitated the deepening of political and strategic relations. The aforementioned port of Gwadar, located in the proximity of the Hormuz straights, received Chinese investments. China maintained close military bonds with Pakistan and this was a preferred client in defense terms.  Good Sino-Pakistani relations also contributed positively to containing the separatist movement  between the components of the Uyghur ethnic minority in province of Xinjiang. Beijing suspected support of Afghan Taliban for Chinese insurgents.

Another diplomatic movement from China that helped to destimulate separatism was the Shanghai Five, a group that brought together from April 1966, China, Russia, Kirghizstan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan. With the adhesion of Uzbekistan in June of 2001, the group went on to be called the Organization of Cooperation of Shanghai (OCS). One of their aims is the containment of extremism and separatism in the heart of the member states. On the occasion of the annual meeting of the OCS in 2004, the Chinese President, Hu Jintao and the Uzbek President Islam Karimov signed an agreement for the combat against separatism and extremist actions. Another aim better known, is economic expansion and energy interlinking by way of ducts for petroleum transport and gas originating from Caucasia, important for China.

After September 11, the regional situation worsened. The interference of NATO troops searching for Al Qaeda, brought a new group of actors present in China’s neighbor, especially the USA. However, the Chinese reaction to the occupation of western troops was fleeting. After all, the discomfort of a NATO military presence in a neighboring country could be offset by the deposition of a regime, which was uncomfortable for  China. In the advance of occupation troops, prisoners were made, including Uyghurs trained in Afghanistan. A number of about 20 of these were incarcerated in the Naval Base of Guantanamo, in the island of Cuba. These prisoners were later a motive of Sino-North American diplomatic dispute. The Beijing government claimed the  deportation for judgment in China; the US government objected to such judgment that it would imply the death penalty. The non-deportation irritated the Chinese government.

The strategic position of Pakistan in the war with Afghanistan modified the position of China as a preferential relationship with the Pakistanis. The USA went on to dialogue intensively with the government of Pakistan, since its adhesion to the war was vital.  But this fact does not appear to have negatively affected Sino-Pakistani relations. After September 11,  the Chinese government played the terrorist separatism card on condemning the Islamic Movement of Oriental Turkestan, made up of Uyghur adepts, labeling them as a terrorist group. In 2002, the George Walker Bush administration incorporated the name of the group in the list of terrorist organizations. In the opinion of  Beijing, the separatist movement had the support of the Taliban Afghans. Therefore, the vigorous combat against the Taliban regime by OTAN troops appeared to be acceptable to the Chinese government.

But one fact that certainly worried the Chinese government was the death in 2004 of Chinese citizens working on a highway project financed by the World Bank in  Afghanistan. The attack was at the time put down to a faction of the Taliban militia. The spokesperson for such faction had affirmed that Beijing government oppressed the Uyghurs and repressed the Muslims; he justified, thus, the action. If this episode is added to the disturbances which occurred in 2009, in Xinjiang, the permanent attention of the Chinese government to that province can be understood. Chinese planning contemplated the movement to the  province  of all citizens of Han ethnic. It thereby intends to reduce the proportion of Uyghurs in relation to the Hans. And in consequence, reaffirm Chinese sovereignty in the province.

China shares land  frontiers with five countries whose peoples profess to the Muslim religion. It has interests in guaranteeing the obtention of energy resources originating from the Caspian Sea which can be transported by duct passing through these countries. At the same time, they plan to guarantee commercial partnership, which acquire their products. Therefore, it can be affirmed that China is fighting to keep peace in the region, signing agreements with the OCS.  It can be further affirmed that the emergence of insurgent groups is entirely negative to it, since it does external damage and contaminates its domestic environment. Apart from that, the possibility of episodes like the disturbances this year in  Xinjiang being transmitted live to the whole planet makes the solutions more complex. 

It can be inferred that there is a confluence of interests between China, the USA and  Russia with regard to Afghanistan. If for the USA, it is a war against terrorism and the occupation of an old satellite has the positive face of reducing problem, which can contaminate  the other partners of Central Asia. After all, for Russia, the entire region should remain under its influence. For China, the discomfort of the  presence of western troops in a neighboring country can be tolerated as far as it helps to reduce negative influences of potential insurgents separatist, like a part of the Uyghur ethnics. Thus, it seems that the Taliban constitute the common enemy to all three great actors  of the international system, protagonists of the historic triangle designed by Henry Kissinger 40 years ago, during the Cold War.