The CPEC Phase 2.0 and the Chinese BRI are passing through difficult times because of the US-Israel led war against Iran in the region which has serious socio-economic, geopolitical and geostrategic repercussions for all the regional countries.
It has severely violated concepts of international law, respect of sovereignty, territorial integrity and resultantly institutionalized demise of international cooperation, economic globalization and diplomacy. Additionally, the killing of 86 years old Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Imam Ali Khamenei by the US-Israeli airstrikes put the whole region in danger and changed the landscape of the Middle East forever.
Hence dreams of tarns-regional connectivity, prosperity, progress, stability and harmony the key economic traits for trans-regional connectivity and prosperity have been shattered because of the US-Israel hegemony, Indian allied facilitation and the Afghan Taliban dirty games in the region directly hitting the Chinese dreams and CPEC’s West Asia promised expansion and the BRI’s connectivity with Middle East and Central Asia alike.
It seems that international power brokers and their regional allies are striving hard to form a new Security Corridor (SC) consisting of US, Israel, India and UAE to block the CPEC, BRI and contain the Chinese trans-regional connectivity. Thus dirty new end game has been instigated.
According to many diplomatic circles and prominent regional security experts the new Security Corridor secretly approached Afghan Taliban and terrorist groups of TTP, TTA, BLA, MB, IS-KP and last but not least, Al-Qaeda to be used against Iran for so-called regime change. It seems that exporting these warlords and their martial troops to Iran is on the agenda of these forces of destruction and conspiratorial domain.
The most recently concluded visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Israel and meeting with its prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and extending strategic assistance to Taliban showing their secret alliance against Pakistan and its nuclear program. According to many published reports, India was on the same page with the US and Israel to attack Iran confirming its extended dirty military gaming in the region and beyond.
In the near past, the target killings of the Chinese investors, businessmen and engineers in various parts of Afghanistan and specifically drone assassination of terrorist groups sponsored by Afghan Taliban alarmed the regional countries forcing them to take some joint actions against them. These hideous acts of terrorism against Chinese have further delayed mega projects of trans-regional connectivity between China, Afghanistan and all Central Asia countries.
Moreover, most recently published reports of the Russian Foreign Ministry strongly indicated heavy presence, regrouping, reorganizing and rebirthing of numerous terrorist organizations fighters mainly TTP, TTA, BLA, MB, IS-KP and last but not least, Al-Qaeda amounting to 20,000 to 23,000 currently operating in Afghanistan. Dangerously more than half are foreign fighters further confirming interest in alien lands to disturb regional peace and stability and block onward march the Chinese projects and investments via FDI and BRI.
Furthermore indication of key groups pertaining to ISIS, with about 3,000 members; the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), with between 5,000 and 7,000 members; Al-Qaeda, numbering between 400 and 1,500 members; the Islamic Movement of East Turkestan (ETIM), with 300 to 1,200 members; the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), now called the Islamic Party of Turkestan, with 150 to 500 members; and Jamaat Ansarullah, with around 150 to 250 members vividly reflecting Afghan Taliban’s immense support and sponsorship derailing the Chinese investments and projects alike and patronizing the Western agenda of uncertainty and chaos.
Shockingly, the TTP, mainly based in Afghanistan’s southeast and east, continues to focus its attacks on Pakistan, heightening tensions between the two countries. Unfortunately, it remained one of the main violent groups against Chinese and Pakistanis alike.
The activities of ISIS-K (Khorasan), which has set up training camps and sleeper cells in several regions of Afghanistan posing a direct threat to regional stability and connectivity alike. It is mainly active in the east, north and northeast and is seeking to expand into Central Asia to establish a new caliphate, Thus Chinese BRI mega projects of trans-regional connectivity, infrastructure development, rail projects and social development have been directly hit with a surge in terrorism in Afghanistan.
The ISIS activity and high-profile attacks continued into 2025 and 2026, including an assault on theologians in Baghlan, the killing of a Chinese citizen in Takhar, and the bombing of a crowd in Kunduz clearly demonstrating regrouping of the ISIS in various parts of Afghanistan.
Unfortunately, due to complete denial, defiance and non-cooperative behavior of Afghan Taliban towards the controlling, taming and taking some meaningful actions against TTP, BLA, MB, IS-KP and other terrorist organizations operating from the soil of Afghanistan, it was writing on the wall that the government of Pakistan and its armed forces would take some concrete measures against these terrorist groups. Thus launch of “Operation Ghazab lil-Haq” is justified and need of the hour to protect the regional peace and stability.
It was not coincidence but incremental because the government of Pakistan tried its best to engage Taliban in Doha, Istanbul, Riyadh and Muscat to resolve the sensitive issues of infiltration and terrorist activities within the soil of Pakistan by these banned terrorist groups.
However, Taliban only borrowed time but could not take any substantial actions against these terrorists operating from different parts of Afghanistan. Rather they approached New Delhi to borrow sponsorship and strategic scheme of arrangement against Pakistan which resultantly irked it.
Obviously, ongoing US-Israel external aggression against the Iranian government try to sabotage caravans of socio-economic development, financial integration, infrastructure development, prosperity and last but not least anti-poverty of Chinese BRI in the region. China has more than US$480 billion contracts with Iran but the US-Iran-India-UAE new emerging Security Corridor spoiled the pace, scope, utility and effectiveness of the BRI. Massive destruction of infrastructures, ports, government installations, schools and common people’s residences show a mad chase of forming a new Security Corridor in which the Afghan Taliban and 23,000 terrorist groups in Afghanistan would be used for the change of regime in Iran.
It seems that hawkish policy makers and blind military pundits of US-Israel have committed a fatal blunder by erasing its supreme religious leadership without knowing Iran’s solid and functional hierarchical system which is functional, active and decentralized.
So, its whims & wishes of changing the regime is still a far cry gearing massive destruction and chaos in the Middle East because of Iran’s retaliation against the US military bases in UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
In summary, the economic security, safety of the Chinese in the region have been further marginalized because of the surge in terrorism and the emergence of new security corridor in the region. Thus, CPEC Phase 2.0 and BRI have become the latest prey of regional instability, disharmony and disorder.
The writer emphasizes that after capturing more than 188 Afghan posts and possessing 50-60 kilometres areas within Afghanistan the armed forces of Pakistan after consulting with regional countries may try to consolidate their military presence at the captured check posts within the soil of Afghanistan and implement the “Syrian Model” alongside the Afghan to safeguard all their vested interests.
Strategic coordination with the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan and the Afghanistan Freedom Front should be further explored and strengthened to stop terrorist attacks from Panjshir, Badakhshan and Baghlan to Pakistan and other regional countries.
Pakistan should seek the Chinese assistance in terms of constant aerial surveillance by having nuclear drones for their unlimited flight/operation duration to be deployed on the border of Afghanistan. Moreover, deployment of Robotic Soldiers should also be operationalized as soon as possible.
The policy makers of Pakistan may consider replicating the Iraqi-Libyan Model of human intelligence to eradicate urban terrorist presence in the country.
