Month: March 2012

PDF (7 Pages):  20120316 NATO CIMIC Role_of_India_Pakistan_in_Afghanistan_Development

March 2012

This report addresses the roles of India and Pakistan on the economic development of Afghanistan based on the material provided in open sources.

The involvements of Pakistan and India in Afghanistan are often related to each other. Given that the research and materials concerning these two countries’ involvement in Afghanistan heavily overlapped, the Civil-Military Fusion Centre (CFC) determined to address these two topics in one consolidated report.  It may be useful to preface the specific discussion of Indian and Pakistani contributions with a discussion of these countries broader strategies towards Afghanistan. For instance, an article noted by South Asia scholar Christine Fair in Foreign Policy indicates India hopes to contribute to peace and stability in Afghanistan and the emergence of an Afghan government which is on friendly terms with India. Similarly, a report from the Jinnah Institute and the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) indicates that Pakistan wishes to have friendly relations with Afghanistan and to ensure that events in Afghanistan do not contribute to instability in Pakistan. Such factors and many others, as demonstrated in the following sections, have led these two countries to make significant contributions to reconstruction, development and natural resource exploitation in Afghanistan.

PDF (8 Pages):  20120316 NATO CIMIC Role_of_China_in_Afghanistan_Economy_Development

March 2012

This report examines the contribution of the People’s Republic of China to reconstruction and development in Afghanistan, with a particular emphasis on mining and natural resource exploitation.

On 05 December 2011, at the Second International Bonn Conference on Afghanistan, China’s Minister of Foreign Affairs declared the following: “The Chinese people cherish friendly sentiments toward the Afghan people and sincerely hope that peace, stability, independence and development will come to Afghanistan at an early date. We will work with the international community and make our due contribution to the achievement of this goal.” Such comments reflect China’s engagement with Afghanistan’s development, which has, since March 2010, taken place in the scope of the China-Afghanistan comprehensive cooperative partnership agreement, according to Eurasia Review. The topic of Chinese involvement in Afghanistan is taken up in this report, which primarily focuses upon China’s contribution to development and natural resource exploitation in Afghanistan. This review of Chinese engagement is divided into the following sections: (i) aid and development financing, (ii) bilateral trade and (ii) investment in natural resources. It builds upon previous CFC work concerning this issue, including a May 2010 report on “Chinese Involvement in Afghan Development”.