Amid NATO countries' plan to pull-out their combat forces out of Afghanistan by 2014, Afghanistan's neighbors, near neighbors and other regional countries are mulling over increasing their roles in this country. At the same time, the Afghan government has been trying to bolster its ties with regional countries as after Western withdrawal, it will definitely be in need of support and cooperation from those countries to fight extremism and counter economic crises that might entrap Afghanistan. After the NATO troops withdrawal, many say, there is a need for regional framework to improve security in Afghanistan and the region.

The People's Republic of China that shares a small border with Afghanistan's far northeast has been showing high interest to bolster its ties with Afghanistan in various areas including trade, countering narcotics, security, education and social and cultures affairs. On Sunday, September 23, Afghanistan and China inked a number of security and economy agreements that also include training of 300 Afghan police in China.

For this purpose, China's domestic security chief, Zhou Yongkang travelled to Kabul becoming the first Chinese top official to travel to Afghanistan in 50 years. The Karzai office said both sides conferred on implementation of an action plan for the Afghanistan-China joint declaration on strategic cooperation.

The Sino-Afghan relation has been smooth throughout the history. On January 20, 1955 the People's Republic of China established diplomatic relations with the Kingdom of Afghanistan which was upgraded to Comprehensive Cooperative Partnership in 2006. On June 8, the presidents of the two countries agreed in Beijing to take Sino-Afghan relations to the level of strategic and cooperative partnership.

The departure of NATO countries is expected to leave behind a major political, economic and security vacuum and this vacuum needs to be filled through improving bilateral ties with economically strong countries, such as China. For Afghanistan, that has been a victim of foreign interference since long, positive contribution from regional countries would turn out to be quite fruitful in the long run.

Chinese support to Afghanistan's social, economic and political stability should be seen as something valuable. China, as an economic and military power, has great influence over certain countries in region and beyond that. Solid relation of Afghanistan with China would support this country on many grounds both at regional and international levels.