China has lifted its veil on Afghanistan agenda during recent SCO meet: Expert

Writing in his opinion published in Asia Times, M K Bhadrakuma said: "The elucidation of China’s intentions and motivations by Foreign Minister Wang Yi is timely and relevant, since Beijing has recently shifted gear to a more proactive role at the center of the Afghan peace process."

"Wang’s remarks at a press conference in Dushanbe on Wednesday provide an invaluable reference point amid the paranoia in the Western (and Indian) media that China is about to gobble up Afghanistan. To rational minds, evidently, Beijing is extra-vigilant that it should not get sucked into the Afghan whirlpool. This is the first thing," he said.

He said China will not make a military intervention in Afghanistan and repeat the mistake of the former Soviet Union and the United States.

"China is confident that the fallout from the Afghan security situation can be contained. It constructively engages both the Ashraf Ghani government and the Taliban. Beijing enjoys an excellent rapport with the Ghani government, which it has supported quietly all these years and whose record in office it regards as rather creditable under difficult conditions," the former diplomat wrote.

"Suffice to say, China, as a neighboring country, will not be prescriptive about the Afghan nation’s Islamic moorings and will scrupulously uphold its core principle of non-interference in that country’s internal affairs, but is also acutely conscious that a thin line separates Islamic militancy and terrorism.,' he said.

He said: "Simply put, China views American intentions in Afghanistan with great suspicion. It doesn’t expect that the US will show enthusiasm for Afghanistan’s reconstruction work or nation-building. Nonetheless, China anticipates not only continued US involvement in Afghanistan but even attempts to expand American military presence in the region, on the pretext of counterterrorist activity, for geopolitical reasons."

With the moving out of more and more foreign troops from Afghanistan, Taliban forces are slowly crawling back to power in the war-hit nation.