With Friends Like These: Pakistan Urges Afghanistan To Abandon America And Join Forces With China

The Wall Street Journal and other news outlets are reporting that Pakistan, which receives billions of dollars in US aid every year, is encouraging another billion dollar aid recipient (Afghanistan) to weaken their ties with us and cozy up to China. The arrangement has plenty of attraction for Pakistan, Afghanistan, and China. Pakistan will find China less concerned about human rights and more tolerant of its nuclear capabilities. Afghanistan will find that dealing with Beijing means less public attention to corruption, which has been dogging the Karzai government. Likewise, China appears to be willing to spend aid money and doesn’t face the domestic financial problems of the United States.

And why exactly would China want to get more deeply involved in this messy part of the world? Afghanistan has more than $1 trillion is untapped mineral wealth. For the same reason China has been raising its profile and role in places like the Middle East, Latin America, and Africa, China’s interest lies in the economic potential that lies in Afghanistan. Also, bringing Afghanistan under its wings would serve as another counterweight to India, Beijing’s longtime rival.

And the United States? The fact that we give Afghanistan and Pakistan billions of dollars in aid and support and they still want to abandon ship tells us something about how they view American leadership.