Why do «neighbouring» powers help? India, China, Russia, and their approaches to development in 2001–2021 Afghanistan

Abstract

The paper identifies the development approaches of China, India, and Russia towards 2001–2021 Afghanistan, and investigates the complex mechanism of their impact on international relations in the region of wider Central Asia. The main finding is that only India has tried to incorporate Afghanistan into its regional economic initiatives. For China and Russia, Afghanistan has been a ‘troubled neighbour’, and they acted as free riders benefiting from the US security and economic presence there, regardless of their claims. Despite its minor activity in Afghanistan, China is becoming the most dominant actor in the region by cooperating with Pakistan. Therefore, India tended to oppose Chinese efforts by providing huge funding to Afghanistan to balance Chinese influence. Meanwhile, Russia was increasingly limiting its activity, both in Afghanistan and the region, and tried to balance the influence of other powers by diplomatic means. The article also proves that, despite their membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and their association in the Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) Group, emerging donors in fact did not cooperate for Afghanistan’s development, and also did not try to compete with Western donors in this regard.