China weighs how best to bolt the back door to terrorists from Afghanistan

Beijing fears instability in Afghanistan could pose a threat via other neighbouring countries such as Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan

The danger of a spillover after the Taliban’s takeover raises the importance of cooperation between countries in the region

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China and Tajikistan have held a joint anti-terror drill as Beijing moves to bolster its security ties in Central Asia. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 10:00pm, 21 Aug 2021Updated: 6:18pm, 24 Aug 2021

China has stepped up defences on its border with Afghanistan to guard against potential terrorist threats, given the turmoil after Kabul’s sudden fall to the Taliban. But the narrow Afghan-Chinese frontier is not the only entry point, with less reinforced borders between Afghanistan and its other neighbours, such as Tajikistan, representing a challenge for the region’s security alliances.

There are growing concerns for the Chinese government that instability in landlocked Afghanistan following the militant group’s takeover could spill across vulnerable Afghan borders into Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan to the north, as well as threatening other regional players such as Pakistan, Iran, Russia, India and Turkey.

Already, China has carried out an anti-terrorism exercise with Tajikistan that began on Wednesday.

Observers say that China may seek to further deepen cooperation with Tajikistan and other central Asian neighbours, after chaotic scenes of Afghans seeking desperately to flee after the Taliban takeover. Beijing has repeatedly called for the Taliban and others to ensure stability in the country to prevent it from relapsing into a hotbed of terrorism, particularly given that China’s highly sensitive western Xinjiang region shares a narrow 70km (43-mile) border with Afghanistan.

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Lu Xiang, a senior researcher on China-US relations at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that China had military deployments within 100km of the border with Afghanistan that could help prevent infiltration by terrorist forces, but there could be a risk of being breached via Afghanistan’s northern neighbours.

China weighs how best to bolt the back door to terrorists from Afghanistan

Beijing fears instability in Afghanistan could pose a threat via other neighbouring countries such as Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan The danger of a spillover after the Taliban’s takeover raises the importance of cooperation between countries in the region

Beijing fears instability in Afghanistan could pose a threat via other neighbouring countries such as Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan

The danger of a spillover after the Taliban’s takeover raises the importance of cooperation between countries in the region