Taleban 'getting Chinese weapons'
Pastor Dale Morgan
Taleban 'getting Chinese weapons'*
By Paul Danahar
BBC Asia bureau chief, Beijing
British troops in Helmand in Afghanistan
A large number of British troops are based in Afghanistan
Britain has privately complained to Beijing that Chinese-made weapons
are being used by the Taleban to attack British troops in Afghanistan.
The BBC has been told that on several occasions Chinese arms have been
recovered after attacks on British and American troops by Afghan insurgents.
The authorities in Beijing have promised to carry out an investigation.
This appears to be the first time Britain has asked China how its arms
are ending up with the Taleban.
Boasting
At a meeting held recently at the Chinese foreign ministry in Beijing, a
British official expressed the UK's growing concern about the incidents.
When asked about the latest British concerns, the Chinese foreign
ministry referred back to a statement made by their spokesman Qin Gang
in July who said China's arms exports were carried out "in strict
accordance with our law and our international obligations".
For their part, the Taleban have recently begun boasting that they have
now got hold of much more sophisticated weaponry although they refused
to say from where.
Afghan officials have also privately confirmed to the BBC that
sophisticated Chinese weapons are now in the hands of the Taleban.
Taleban fighters in 2001
Taleban forces fled Kabul in 2001
They said these included Chinese-made air-to-surface missiles,
anti-aircraft guns, landmines, rocket-propelled grenades and components
for roadside bombs.
A senior Afghan official told the BBC, "Chinese HN-5 anti-aircraft
missiles are with the Taleban, we know this... and we are worried where
do the Taleban get them, some of these weapons have been made recently
in Chinese factories".
Another Afghan official who deals with counter-terrorism said, "Serial
numbers and other information from most of the Chinese weapons have been
removed in most cases and it's almost impossible for us to find out
where they come from but we have shared our concerns with the Chinese
and the Americans also".
Worried
The Afghan government considers China to be a friend, and a much less
meddlesome ally than the other big player in its neighbourhood, India.
But, the counter-terrorism official added, "China is worried about the
presence of the US in the region".
Southern Afghanistan has been awash with Chinese made arms for decades
which are some of the cheapest on the market.
In the past the Taleban got them via the Pakistan intelligence agency,
the ISI, or bought them directly from arms smugglers.
But it is extremely unlikely the ISI would now allow them access to
anti-aircraft missiles or armour-piercing ammunition.
Bomb damage in Kandahar
Taleban regularly target foreign troops in Afghanistan
The Pakistani army's relationship between militants in its tribal areas
along the Afghan border has deteriorated sharply in recent years after
Washington put pressure on President Musharraf post-9/11 to crack down
on al-Qaeda and Taleban groups operating inside Pakistani territory.
So the Taleban might well use any sophisticated new weapons it received
against the Pakistani army.
It is not in China's interest either to arm Pakistan-based militants.
Over the last couple of years Chinese workers in Pakistan have been
targeted by militants, in retaliation for the Pakistani army allegedly
going after hard-line Muslim Uighur leaders from China's Xinjiang
province, hiding in the tribal areas.
Proxy network
So instead of Pakistan being the transit point for these weapons, the
finger is being pointed by many commentators towards Iran.
The Afghan government has long acknowledged privately that Iranian
intelligence agencies have been active in southern Afghanistan post-9/11.
Iran has been pursuing a policy of building up proxy networks to be able
to attack American forces in response to any US attacks against
Teheran's nuclear infrastructure.
Hamid Karzai with Iran's President Ahmadinejad
The Americans are suspicious of Iran's role in Afghanistan
A Shia Iran and the Sunni Taleban had been firm enemies since 1998.
Then, Iran threatened to invade western Afghanistan, when the country
was largely controlled by the Taleban, after nine of its diplomats were
massacred in Mazar-e-Sharif.
But times have changed, now America is a common enemy and senior
American commanders in Afghanistan have acknowledged the growing ties
between the two.
The complication for both the UK and US is China.
Unnamed US officials have recently been quoted as saying that China has
been selling arms to Iran which Iran is then passing on to insurgent
groups in Afghanistan and Iraq.
China's booming economy and its seat at the UN security council have
made it an important player on the world stage.
It is a major trading partner for the UK whose economy has benefited
enormously from China's cheap goods.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown's newly-appointed British Minister for Asia,
Lord Mark Malloch Brown acknowledged to journalists in Beijing last week
that countries "need to work with China to get things done in today's
world".
China is going to have to show that getting things done also means
stopping its arms illegally ending up in the hands of men bent on
killing British troops.