China-Pakistan alliance in Afghanistan worries India, as Taliban offensive continues

New Delhi’s strained ties with Beijing and Islamabad have left it wary of how both are working together in Afghanistan as international troops exit the country

The issue will be on the agenda when US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visits India this week to meet with PM Narendra Modi and Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar

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Chinese and Pakistan foreign ministers Wang Yi (right) and Shah Mahmood Qureshi during their meeting in Chengdu on July 24. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 3:00pm, 27 Jul 2021Updated: 10:37pm, 16 Aug 2021

China and Pakistan’s declaration that they will closely cooperate in Afghanistan – as the last US and international troops withdraw, leaving a security vacuum being exploited by Taliban insurgents – has begun to worry Indian policymakers.

New Delhi’s relations with both Beijing and Islamabad are strained, and the five-point plan for collaboration announced by Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi and his visiting Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi during their meeting over the weekend is an unwelcome prospect in India, which is also gearing up for instability arising from a likely civil war in Afghanistan.

C. Raja Mohan, director of the Institute of South Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore, said closer collaboration between China and Pakistan could be a “serious challenge for India”.

“China’s global and regional footprint has been increasing and it is a matter of time before it is visible in Afghanistan,” he said.

India is locked in a border dispute with China and sees Pakistan as its arch rival, while their bilateral cooperation through the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is already seen as a threat to Indian trade and security.