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INTERNATIONAL POWER PLAY: Etching the 21st
Century Silk Route
By Mahmoodullah Khan
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Antiquity
Over thousands of years many
alignments of the silk route have
been traversed, economic viability,
lay of the land, mountain passes and
geopolitical constraints favoring
one over the other.
Owing to similar tangential
influences, the twenty first century
is witnessing the emergence of one
particular vein, overwhelming the
necessity of all others and thereby
expanding into its main artery.
The antiquated alignments of the
silk route essentially spanned in
the east - westerly direction,
carrying oriental merchandise to
Europe, and the preferred routes
were overland because of a
traditional lineage of trading
centers that had existed since
ancient times. There was no
importance of the sea links and
therefore the silk route was not
developing southwards, it only
became apparent when the Russian
bear began its expansion towards the
warm waters of the Indian Ocean and
was effectively checked by the
British Empire, during the ensuing
period of the world wars and the
cold war era, there was a stalemate
on this front till the Soviet
occupation of Afghanistan, whereas
the Soviets withdrew and eventually
the Soviet union collapsed there was
for the first time a realization of
the emphasis of the Silk Route to
shift its flow is in the north-south
direction, emanating from the
Central Asian States and China
leading down south to Pakistan
either directly or via Afghanistan
for its eventual quest of the sea
ports on the Indian Ocean.
Shortest Route to the Central Asian
States
Completed in 1979 Pakistan’s
Karakoram highway is an incredible
feat of construction, and an
enduring monument to the 810
Pakistani and 82 Chinese who died in
the line of duty, often the
engineers had to be suspended on
ropes hundreds of feet up sheer
cliff faces in order to drill holes
for explosives. It connects Pakistan
to China, twisting through three
great ranges - the Himalayas,
Karakoram and Pamirs - and follows
one of the ancient silk routes along
the Indus crossing into China at
Khunjrab pass at an altitude of
17,000 feet. Conceived as a
strategic defense road and
constructed over two decades, once
complete it served a strong message
to keep reined in India’s designs of
hegemony in the region. However, in
the late nineties after Pakistan had
made overt its nuclear weapons
program and the theory that India
could be checked through other means
had crystallized and sunk in on both
sides of the border, theories of its
commercial viability were being
expounded, Afghanistan could be
considered as by-passable, for
surely the Pakistani silk highway
would provide the shortest and most
viable conduit into China and the
Central Asian States.
The Spoils in Afghanistan
After the soviet withdrawal from
Afghanistan and the ensuing turmoil,
trade through the worn torn country
was not possible, law and order was
non existent and with divergent
political interests, the war lords
were having a field day with any
foreign element that needed a safe
passage through their country, in
fact it was a “no go” situation.
Apparently Iran was adding fuel to
the fire in order to protect its
monopoly on the alternative route
from Bandar Abbas to the
trans-Siberian rail road; India was
also supporting unrest to prevent
Pakistan from gaining economic
stability and essentially
neutralizing its geopolitical
significance. There was some passage
of goods through Afghanistan, but it
could only be categorized as a
smuggling operation in the style of
drugs or illicit arms. It was devoid
of any government machinery, no
security that could be traced to any
credible base and thereby, no
concept of any insurance. The only
assurance was the tribal elders’
sanctimonious word, which left a lot
to be desired for the cautious
international traders operating from
Karachi or Dubai. It boiled down to
a stalemate, the pot smoking gun
slingers in Afghanistan were
ignorant of where there best
interests lay and considered
themselves clever at prevaricating
on a peaceful solution to the
infighting, they felt accomplished
at making this impediment to peace
insurmountable. All concerned
nations were at the fag end of their
patience with this stupid and hard
headed obstinacy.
Alternatives for the Central Asian
States
Governments and corporations were
all trying to end this waiting game,
major endeavors were being planned
to establish positions in these
countries, problem of accessibility,
however, was almost an intractable
problem, Iran was taking its time
and money over its monopolized
route, and the old Soviet Union
routes ran across vast expanses
controlled by a derelict system of
KGB and thugs making it impossible
for any sustained venture. Thus any
trade which happened was being borne
by the air transport system, which
was inherently expensive and
impractical. There was another
alignment being used extensively
through China, it ran all across
China form Shanghai and other ports
in the east up to Orumchi by train
or road and then had to be
transferred onto trailers that could
ply on shingle tracks for the next
500 hundred miles, which had been
left such during the China Soviet
Union stand off years. This too was
not a commercially viable route; it
was only used for transporting raw
materials to Chinese finishing goods
industry located in the eastern part
of the country
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