CHINA OFFERS TO MEDIATE AFGHAN PEACE TALKS
China is signalling a willingness to take a more active role in Afghan peace negotiations, weeks after hosting a Taliban delegation in Beijing. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi stated that “China is ready to play a constructive role and will provide the necessary facilitation at any time if required by various parties in Afghanistan.” Already China has initiated several trilateral dialogues with India, Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan on the conflict. Beijing has both security and economic interests at stake in Afghanistan, most acutely as they relate to Uighur separatists from its Xinjiang region receiving terrorism training inside Pakistan and Afghanistan. (Radio Free EuropeFebruary 16, 2015)
MUSHARRAF: ISI WORKED WITH TALIBAN
Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency supported the Taliban while Afghan president Hamid Karzai was in office, according to former Pakistani leader Pervez Musharraf. The move was meant to counter Indian influence in Afghanistan, as Pakistan believed the Karzai government favored India. Musharraf admitted: “obviously we were looking for some groups to counter this Indian action against Pakistan” and “definitely they [the ISI] were in contact, and they should be." Moving forward, Musharraf believes that the government of new president Ashraf Ghani will turn a new leaf and restore "balance" to Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, President Ghani has scrapped a request for Indian weapons made by his predecessor. Despite growing ties with India, Ghani suspended the request for heavy weaponry in a move seen by some observers as an effort to improve relations with Pakistan. Afghanistan will likely source the weapons from somewhere else. Though the deal was abandoned, Kabul is still expected to maintain cordial relations with New Delhi. (Tolo News February 10, 2015; Dawn News February 13, 2015)
SRI LANKA TO GO AHEAD WITH CHINA PORT DEAL
After intiially signaling it would cancel a port deal with China, the new Sri Lankan government under President Maithripala Sirisena now says the $1.5 billion port project may move forward after all. Sirisena promised during his campaign to scrap the deal but his government now seems to be reversing its position. The project involves the reclamation of 233 hectares of land in the capital, Colombo. China would own 20 of those hectares outright and hold 108 of them on a 99-year lease. The project is regarded as “key to the success of Chinese President Xi Jinping's mega Silk Road and Maritime Silk Road project." The move concerns India, locked in a regional power struggle with China, because of the large volume of transit cargo the passes through Colombo. (The New Indian Express February 6, 2015)
REPS. ROYCE, ENGEL URGE TOUGHER MEASURES ON PAKISTAN
In a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry, Congressmen Edward Royce and Eliot Engel pushed for a more aggressive approach in dealing with Pakistani officials who support terrorist groups. Pakistan has a selective approach to terrorist groups, they said, opposing outfits like the Pakistani Taliban while letting groups like Lashkar-e-Tayyiba “operate with virtual impunity.” Reps. Royce and Engel want to enact travel restrictions, suspend assistance, and implement sanctions against Pakistani officials believed to support terrorist groups. (U.S. House of Representatives February 12, 2015).
SIRISENA VISITS INDIA, SIGNS NUCLEAR DEAL
In his first overseas trip as Sri Lanka's president, Maithripala Sirisena traveled to India to meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The visit signals Sirisena's desire to forge closer ties with New Delhi after the previous government under Mahinda Rajapaksa was seen as gravitating more toward Beijing. The two leaders reached agreements on civilian nuclear technology as well as increasing trade. Sirisena and Modi also discussed Sri Lanka’s reconciliation efforts with the Tamil minority. India has a particular stake in the discourse as it is host to a large Tamil population.
The civilian nuclear cooperation agreement with India is the first such agreement struck by Sri Lanka with any country. The deal previously stalled under former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa over concerns about radiation from India’s reactors in Tamil Nadu. The agreement signals Colombo’s shift toward India under new president Maithripala Sirisena. (BBC February 16, 2016; Times of India February 17, 2015)