by Lu Shuqun
KABUL, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- Recently in Brussels the international community pledged a new aid commitment to Afghanistan, but the financial package may not be a long-term solution to Afghanistan's myriad problems, political researchers and economic scholars here have proffered.
Rather than mere cash handouts, Afghan researchers and scholars have highlighted the possible effectiveness of longer-term solutions that focus on connectivity and offer a multitude of sustainable economic opportunities for all those involved.
China's Belt and Road Initiative, for example, has been mentioned as one initiative that could serve these functions and better connect the two countries.
In a recent interview with Xinhua, Halimullah Kousary, Head of Research in the Center for Conflict and Peace Studies, pointed out that the Belt and Road Initiative is a huge international project from which Afghanistan could benefit.
According to Kousary, the initiative is important to both countries, especially to Afghanistan, because it is economically weaker, while China, an important partner of Afghanistan, is blessed with abundant economic resources.
If the project continues to be successfully implemented, huge investment from Chinese business circles and the government will flow into Afghanistan.
Other international organizations and related stakeholders will also be major players, Kousary said.
In the past 15 years, Afghanistan has made considerable achievements in economic development because of international aid, but as Kousary said, it can only solve short term problems.
In order to solve Afghanistan's long term problems, the Belt and Road Initiative could act as a precursor to promote further foreign investment to Afghanistan.
Sayed Masoud, Kabul University professor and economist, echoed Kousary's view.
China's investment in Afghanistan helps establish factories, boost the country's product ability, create job opportunities, thus resulting in the country alleviating poverty, Masoud told Xinhua in a recent interview.
Currently China is one of Afghanistan's largest investors, he said.
Besides investment, bilateral trade will also balloon thanks to the Belt and Road Initiative, he added.
Masoud went on to describe the railway connection between China and Afghanistan through the central Asian states of Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan as a means for boosting trade and economic relations between the two neighboring countries and the region.
There are two direct train lines that were recently opened to transport goods between the two countries, as part of the Belt and Road Initiative.
Latest data show that China is Afghanistan's third-largest trading partner with a total yearly trade volume of 1.054 billion U.S. dollars.
According to the Chinese embassy in Afghanistan, 97 percent of Afghan goods exported to China are duty-free.
"The Afghan government believes that China is one country that can play a leading role in the stabilization process as well as the economic development of Afghanistan, Kousary said.
"China has the means and knowhow to help Afghanistan to develop its capabilities over different institutions, for example both the military and the police, at different levels. So we value enhanced relations with China, " he said.
China also views Afghanistan as being very important for a number of reasons, he added.
"Enhancing bilateral relations is important to China's national security and economic outreach programs and it is important to China's stability inside and outside, and to China's economic security outside," Kousary said.
"For example, if Afghanistan is not a secure or stable country, I think the implementation of Belt and Road Initiative will be very difficult. If things get worse in Afghanistan, Central Asia will be affected, and we cannot ignore Central Asia."
"There have been some signs or indications of the impact of the deteriorating security in Afghanistan and in Central Asia," he said.
"For example, China and Tajikistan have recently shared some concern about insecurity in some provinces on the border. The same is true with Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan," Kousary explained.
Bridging Central and South Asia is no doubt of strategic importance to Afghanistan and the two regions are important stops of the Belt and Road Initiative.
"An important part of China's economy is to market development outside China. Afghanistan is an untapped market and China has the capacity to develop it through investment," he said.
"It's a huge market and the country has a population of 30 million people. In the future, by 2050, the population will be over 50 million." Kousary added.
