China’s Role in Afghanistan and Pakistan Post US-Nato Withdrawal: Implications for India

About the Monograph

The monograph examines the inception of China’s geostrategic/geo-economic pivot towards Pakistan— and more recently, Afghanistan— before charting the trajectory of its expanding role in the Af-Pak region. It assesses the viability of the evolving geopolitical triangle comprising China, Pakistan and Afghanistan, before evaluating possible Chinese strategy behind deepening engagement with a region marked by chronic volatility. The study, in particular, assesses China’s strategic interests in Afghanistan and how Pakistan remains central to its Afghan policy. The monograph also seeks to explore whether the return of the Taliban and China’s rising profile in the region would signal the evolution and fruition of China’s Af-Pak strategy. By examining both convergences and divergences in Afghanistan and Pakistan’s bilateral ties with China, the study investigates the contours of a potentially hyphenated approach. It concludes by outlining prominent security paradigms in the region and the inherent dilemmas that shape China’s strategic calculus in this complex geopolitical theatre.

About the Author

Dr. Priyanka Singh is Associate Fellow at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA), New Delhi and associated with the South Asia Centre. She holds an Honours degree in Political Science from Lady Shri Ram College for Women, University of Delhi, and a PhD from the University of Lucknow. Her PhD thesis was titled: “Indo-US Relations in the Last Decade – 1990-2000: Shifting Paradigms”. She has published a series of monographs addressing the broader issues concerning Kashmir- Gilgit Baltistan: Between Hope and Despair (2013), Re-Positioning Pakistan Occupied Kashmir on India’s Policy Map: Geopolitical Drivers, Strategic Impact (2017), China-Pakistan Ties and Kashmir: History and Geopolitics (2022) and Discerning India’s Kashmir Strategy: Approach, Challenges and Outcomes (2024). Her broader research interests include: Sino-Pakistan ties, China-Pakistan-Afghanistan triangular geopolitics, India-US relations, US engagement in Pakistan; and developments in Afghanistan, Kashmir and the CPEC. She is the editor of the book The Role of Media in Promoting Regional Understanding in South Asia (Pentagon Press, 2016), and co-editor of Proliferation and Emerging Nuclear Order in the Twenty-First Century (Academic Foundation, New Delhi, 2009) and Saving Afghanistan (Academic Foundation, New Delhi, 2009).