AFGHANISTAN

An overview; Geo-Political importance of Afghanistan

Afghanistan is geographically a hub, where South Asia, Central Asia and West Asia meet, it
can be the main corridor for these three regions. Pakistan and Afghanistan’s geo-economic,
geostrategic and geopolitical positions are historically very important. The length of
Afghanistan's international borders with the Republics of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and
Turkmenistan is 2087 km, with the Islamic Republic of Iran 936 km, with Pakistan 2430 km
and with China 76 km.
Afghanistan has a special geographical position. The country is located in the economic,
cultural and geopolitical important areas of the region. Pakistan and remaining south Asia is
in its East and Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan in west, Tajikistan and China is located in its
north and in its South is Iran and remaining West Asia. Afghanistan connects south Asia and
West Asia with Central Asia that is an important thing to understand as South Asian nations
are overpopulated and are energy hungry whereas Central Asia has energy resources.
Connectivity of Central Asia and South Asia, can open up many opportunities for each other,
they have been less able to have beneficial and constructive trade and cultural relations
with each other due to the lack of safe transportation routes and necessary communication
channels. On the other hand, Afghanistan, being in a special geographical position, can
enjoy a great economic opportunity in the field of trade and transit and use it for the
development, construction and prosperity of the country. Although efforts have been made
over the past few years to take advantage of these opportunities, world nations have so far
yielded no tangible results. This article discusses the opportunities and capacities that this
geographical location of Afghanistan has provided for Pakistan in the economic and security
fields and this article discusses and tries to identify the most important features of the
geographical location of Afghanistan that can be effective for the development of Pakistan
and Afghanistan in visa versa.
Afghanistan is a strategically important country due to its strategic location at the
crossroads of Central Asia, South Asia, and the Middle East. The country is also situated at
the intersection of several major trade routes, including the ancient Silk Road that linked
Asia and Europe. This has made it a valuable place for various empires and states in history.
Afghanistan also has a long history of political instability and conflict, which has made it an
important focus of international efforts to maintain its regional security and stability. In past
few years, Afghanistan has played a key role in the ongoing global War on Terror, as it was
the base of operations for al-Qaeda and the Taliban, the group responsible for the 9/11
attacks in US. The US invaded Afghanistan in 2001, and the country has been in a state of
war till 2021 against the Taliban.
Afghanistan is also significant for its natural resources, including minerals, oil, and natural
gas. These resources have the potential to be a major source of economic development for
the country and the region. And China is running after those natural resources.
Conclusion
Pakistan and Afghanistan are trying to harmonize their geographical and strategic priorities
and are making significant changes in geostrategic affairs. Their geostrategic doctrine could
lead to intense changes in Afghanistan and Pakistan's strategic policies and trade with their
neighbors. The steps of construction of Pakistan's mega projects and energy projects can be
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accelerated if peace comes in Afghanistan. For Central Asia, transit through Pakistan and
Afghanistan is a vital artery that connects landlocked economies to a major global market.
Afghanistan is very important nation for Pakistan to become a gateway for central Asia and
without Afghanistan the importance of Pakistan for the said reason will be reduced as Iran
as substitute of Afghanistan is not a sane idea as Iran itself has direct access to deep warm
waters.
2 Afghanistan since King Amanullah Khan
Crisis Phase (February 20, 1919-November 11, 1928):  Emir Habibullah Khan was
assassinated by a military officer in Lanhman Province on February 20, 1919.  Emir
Habibullah Khan’s son, Nasrullah Khan, declared himself Emir on February 21, 1919. 
Another son of Emir Habibullah Khan, Amanullah Khan, seized control of the government in
Kabul, and he declared himself Emir on February 28, 1919.  Nasrullah Khan was arrested and
imprisoned on March 3, 1919.  Afghan and British military forces engaged in military
hostilities from May 3 to August 8, 1919, resulting in the deaths of some 2,000 individuals. 
Through the signing of the Treaty of Rawalpindi (or Anglo-Afghan Treaty) on August 8, 1919,
Britain formally recognized the sovereignty and independence of Afghanistan.  Mangal
(Pashtun) tribesmen led by Abdullah Khan rebelled against the government in the Khost
region beginning in March 1924.  Abdullah Khan and  his followers was captured by
government troops led by Muhammad Wali Khan on January 30, 1925.  Some 2,000
individuals were killed during the rebellion.  Fifty-three rebels were sentenced to death for
their involvement in the rebellion in May 1925.  Government troops suppressed
demonstrations against the government in Kabul on October 2, 1928.  More than 4,000
individuals were killed during the crisis.
Conflict Phase (November 12, 1928 – October 12, 1929): Shinwari tribesmen led by Bacha-i-
Saqao (“Son of a Water Carrier”) rebelled against the government of King Amanullah Khan in
the Eastern Province beginning on November 12, 1928. Rebels attacked Kabul and captured
the fort of Bagh-i Bala on December 14, 1928.  King Amanullah Khan abdicated in favor of
his brother, Inayatullah Khan, and fled to British India on January 14, 1929.  King Inayatullah
Khan abdicated the throne on January 17, 1929.  Rebel troops captured Kabul, and Bacha
Sakau proclaimed himself Emir Habibullah Ghazi (“Habibullah the Victor”) on January 17,
1929.  Former King Amanullah Khan fled to Chaman, India on May 23, 1929.  Emir
Habibullah Ghazi survived an assassination attempt on May 26, 1929, resulting in the death
of one individual.  Troops led by Emir Habibullah Ghazi troops defeated troops led by Ali
Ahmad Khan Barakzai on June 3, 1929.  Waziri tribesmen led by General Sardar Mohammed
Nadir Khan captured Gardez from government troops on August 29, 1929.  Some 12,000
Waziri tribesmen led by General Sardar Nadir Khan launched a military offensive against
troops led by Emir Habibullah Ghazi on September 18, 1929. General Nadir Khan’s
tribesmen defeated troops led by Emir Habibollah at Charasiah on October 5-6, 1929. 
General Nadir Khan’s troops captured Kabul on October 12, 1929. Some 8,000 individuals
were killed during the conflict.
Afterwards, Amanullah became a national hero, and was given the tile Ghazi. He then
turned his attention to modernizing Afghanistan. He changed his title from Amir to Padshah
(King) in 1926. King Amanullah’s modernization plans were not greeted so warmly by
everyone in Afghanistan, and as result, many tribes revolted. In the end, the revolt caused
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Amanullah Khan the throne. He left Afghanistan and lived in exile in Italy and Switzerland.
He died in 1960, and was buried in Jalalabad, near his father’s tomb.
3 History of Soviet Afghanistan Relations
Relations between Afghanistan and Russia first emerged in the 19th century. At the time
they were placed in the context of "The Great Game", Russian–British confrontations over
Afghanistan from 1840 to 1907.[1] The Soviet Union was the first country to establish
diplomatic relations with Afghanistan following the Third Anglo-Afghan War in 1919.[2] On 28
February 1921, Afghanistan and Soviet Russia signed a Friendship Treaty. [3] The Soviet Union
intervened in Afghanistan against the Basmachi movement in 1929 and 1930.
Following the Second World War, the Kingdom of Afghanistan and the Soviet Union formed
a friendly relationship, and the latter provided much aid and development to Afghanistan.
Following the Saur Revolution, the two countries signed a friendship treaty in 1978. In 1979
the Soviet Union intervened in Afghanistan with Operation Storm-333. This action
precipitated a negative reaction in most of the Muslim world deeming it as an invasion, and
contributing to a decline in Afghanistan's prosperity and a strengthening of radical elements
within the country. The Russian-backed Afghan government collapsed in 1992. However,
Russo-Afghan relations have improved somewhat in the years following the conflict. Russia
now has an embassy in Kabul and a consulate-general in Mazar-e-Sharif, and Afghanistan
has an embassy in Moscow.
Afghanistan is also one of the few countries that recognised the annexation of Crimea by
the Russian Federation in 2014.
4 Soviet Intervention in Afghanistan and its implications for Pakistan and
Afghanistan.
The Soviet intervention of December, 1979 in Afghanistan initiated an intense debate within
both Pakistan and the United States regarding the Soviet intentions in Southwest Asia. One
view asserted that Soviet intervention was essentially a defensive operation and that
President Carter had overreacted I to the Soviet concerns regarding their southern borders.
In other words, this view maintained that 'no serious account appears to have been taken of
such specific factors as geographical proximity, ethnic affinity of the people on both sides of
the border, and political instability, in what is, after all, a border country of the Soviet
Union'.2 This view has essentially remained a minority view in the United States. In Pakistan,
this view is fairly broadly shared by some of the political parties.
A second view maintained that 'the invasion of Afghanistan seems to have contained
defensive and offensive elements'. Russian czars and Soviet commissars alike have
traditionally considered the northern tier of Afghanistan to be within their sphere of
influence. 'The Russians intervened in Afghanistan on a limited scale in 1885, 1928, and
1930 ... yet, the Russians never attempted a full scale invasion until 1979. Soviet concerns
must be viewed in the wake of the US deployment off the coast of Iran in 1979. In addition
to any defensive motives was the Soviet desire to be in a better position to exploit future
opportunities in unstable Iran.'3 To Pakistan's foreign policy makers, this subtle distinction
between offensive and defensive nature of the intervention remained irrelevant.
The third view was espoused by the Carter and Reagan Administrations. Presidents Carter
and Reagan believed that the Soviet intervention is a measured step to acquire a favorable
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strategic position in the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf. Carter stated quite emphatically
on 24 January 1980: 'An attempt by any outside force to gain control of the Persian Gulf will
be regarded as an assault on the vital interests of the United States. It will be repelled by
use of any means necessary, including military force.' (In pursuit of this policy, the Rapid
Deployment Force was established to provide security to 19 countries in the Gulf and the
areas around the Gulf.) Looking upon herself as the backyard of the Persian Gulf, Pakistan
readily accepted the view of the American administration.
The Soviet view was explained on 12 January 1980 by the architect of the Soviet
intervention in Afghanistan, Leonid I. Brezhnev. He analyzed the Soviet decision in global
terms and in the light of developments within Afghanistan, Iran and the bordering states.
Brezhnev saw the Afghan revolution of April, 1978 as the genuine socialist revolution
threatened by what he called 'the forces of the past' and supported by the 'reactionaries' in
Pakistan, Iran, the United States, Egypt and China. He blamed Hafizullah Amin, who was
executed on the eve of the Soviet intervention on 27 December 1979, for the domestic
problems of Afghanistan. The Soviet Union responded, according to Brezhnev, to honor the
Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation which the two countries had signed in December,
1978. Lack of action on the part of the Soviet Union, Brezhnev believed, would have turned
Afghanistan 'into an imperialist military bridgehead on our country's southern border'.
5 Today Afghanistan
Afghanistan is facing an unprecedented humanitarian crisis with a very real risk of systemic
collapse and human catastrophe. In addition to unimaginable human costs, this
humanitarian crisis is reversing many of the gains of the last 20 years, including around
women’s rights.
The end of the 20 year armed conflict between the Taliban and the Afghan National Security
and Defence Forces in August 2021, and the simultaneous takeover of the country by the
Taliban, has ushered in a new era characterized by rapid economic rapid economic decline,
hunger and risk of malnutrition, inflation driven by global commodity shocks, drastic rises in
both urban and rural poverty, a near-collapse of the national public health system, a stifling
of the media and civil society sectors, and almost-total exclusion of half the population –
women and girls – from public life.
The collapse of the previous government resulted in a suspension of direct international
development assistance, which previously accounted for 75 per cent of public expenditure,
including the maintenance of the public health system. In the absence of development
activity, the Afghan people are experiencing a backwards slide evidenced by the surge of
humanitarian needs across the country.
Afghanistan’s population was estimated to pass 43 million in 2022, with 49 per cent women
and girls, and one of the highest youth populations in the world, with 47 per cent of the
population under 15 years old. The population is expected to grow at 2.3 per cent per
annum, one of the steepest rates in the region, and so the intertwined environmental,
economic and protection crises, particularly for girls, will have a far-reaching and potentially
catastrophic impact far into the future.
In 2023, a staggering 28.3 million people (two thirds of Afghanistan’s population) will need
urgent humanitarian assistance in order to survive as the country enters its third
consecutive year of drought-like conditions and the second year of crippling economic
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decline, while still reeling from the effects of 40 years of conflict and recurrent natural
disasters. High levels of unemployment and sustained inflation of key commodity prices
have caused the average household’s debt to increase, challenging people’s coping
mechanisms and thwarting the already fragile economy’s ability to adapt to shocks.

While in previous years, humanitarian needs have been largely driven by conflict, the key
drivers of humanitarian need in 2023 are multidimensional: drought, climate change,
protection threats, particularly for women and girls, and the economic crisis. Nevertheless,
conflict, natural disasters, the lingering effects of war, and recent large-scale conflict
displacement continue to prevent people from building resilience and moving towards
recovery and solutions. In 2022 there was a change in the drivers of humanitarian needs, as
household shocks shifted from COVID-19 and conflict in 2021, to drought, climate change
and economic shocks.
Afghanistan’s economic crisis is widespread, with more than half of households
experiencing an economic shock in the last six months. The economy immediately went into
free-fall, with the disruption to markets, financial and trade mechanisms, the freezing of
US$9.5 billion in central bank reserves, loans and the sudden suspension of direct
development aid.
Within this reality, 17 million people face acute hunger in 2023, including 6 million people at
emergency levels of food insecurity, one step away from famine – and one of the highest
figures worldwide. Deterioration is expected in the first quarter of 2023 due to the
simultaneous effects of winter and the lean season, sustained high food prices, reduced
income and unemployment and continued economic decline.
Afghanistan is highly prone to natural hazards, whose frequency and intensity are
exacerbated by the effects of climate change, increasing humanitarian needs and structural
limitations in mitigating disaster impact. The number of atypical sudden-onset disasters,
such as floods and earthquakes, was higher in 2022 than preceding years and the scenario
anticipates that these patterns may be the norm moving ahead.
6 China Short History of China.
China is a magic country with special culture, traditions and ancient civilization. The Chinese
civilization is one of the world’s ancient calcinations, aged almost 5,000 years. Its first
written records date back to IV millennia BC. 
China was ruled by various dynasties for much of its history. The first dynasty is believed to
be the Xia dynasty which formed somewhere around 2250 BC. The Shang or Yin dynasty
gained power around the 14th century BC. The Han Dynasty, which lasted over 400 years
from 206 BC to 220 AD, was one of the most influential in China's history. Much of the
culture today was created during the Han Dynasty. Later famous dynasties, like the Song
and the Tang, continued to refine the culture and bring new innovations to the world
including printed money, a permanent navy, and a complex government that ruled over 100
million people.
The last of the great dynasties, the Qing Dynasty, began in 1644. The Ming Dynasty was in
power, but was overthrown by the Manchus who put the Qing dynasty into power. During
the Qing dynasty, western influences, European trade, and a number of wars all served to
weaken China. Great Britain gained control of Hong Kong after the Opium Wars.
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In the early 1900s the people of China began to want reform. Revolutionary leader Sun Yat-
sen created the Chinese Nationalist Peoples Party, also called the KMT or Kuomintang. After
Sun Yat-sen died, Chiang Kai-shek became leader of the party. However, Chiang turned on
the leaders of the CCP, the communist party, and had many of them killed. The Chinese Civil
War broke out between the KMT and the communists. A new leader, Mao Zedong took over
the communists and led the CCP on a famous "Long March" to a distant area of China. There
they regrouped and eventually gained the strength to force Chiang Kai-shek out of China
and to the island of Taiwan.

Mao Zedong established the Peoples Republic of China on October 1, 1949. This new
government was strongly allied with the Soviet Union and modeled its government after
Soviet communism.
In 1958, Mao Zedong embarked on a new plan called the Great Leap Forward.
Unfortunately, this plan backfired and China experienced a terrible famine including much
starvation and death. Over the next several decades China would struggle with political
reforms and economic policy, slowly recovering and becoming a major world power again.
Today, China is a major world power and the second largest economy in the world.
7 Maoist era in China.
The time period in China from the founding of the People's Republic in 1949 until Mao's
death in 1976 is commonly known as Maoist China and Red China. The history of the
People's Republic of China is often divided distinctly by historians into the Mao era and
the post-Mao era. The country's Mao era lasted from the founding of the People's
republic on 1 October 1949 to Deng Xiaoping's consolidation of power and policy reversal at
the Third Plenum of the 11th Party Congress on 22 December 1978. The Mao era focuses
on Mao Zedong's social movements from the early 1950s on, including land reform,
the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution The Great Chinese Famine, one of the
worst famines in human history occurred during this era.
The first years of the China under Mao rule was greeted with relief and joy after decades of conflict.
With moral confidence, the CCP got off on a good start—ridding the streets of prostitutes, gangs and
opium dens.
Women were given a better deal too—granted equal status and the right to divorce (pre-arranged
marriages also banned).
During the first decade, China received support from Soviets—modeling their industrial,
banking and commercial nationalizations on their system (the two countries would later
break relations after a series of bitter ideological and territorial conflicts).
But Things Quickly Turned Ugly
Soon the Revolution starts to sour after Mao launches a series of purges and mass-
campaigns that went savagely awry (culminating with the horrors of the Cultural
Revolution). Large numbers were displaced, imprisoned or executed. Between 1949 and
Mao’s death in 1976, somewhere between 40-70 million Chinese died prematurely under
his rule (largely through famine).
Turning inward, China would remain isolationist until about 1972.

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1950: The PLA reasserts Chinese control over Tibet. The teenaged 14th Dalai Lama (the
current one) becomes a Chinese figurehead ruler.
1952: Mao begins Rural Collectivization. Based on a Soviet-style 5 year plan for economic
growth, individual land-ownership is abolished and replaced with co-operatives (of about
200-300 families).
The End of the Mao Era (Finally)
June 26, 1976: Mao has a heart attack.
July 28, 1976: A massive earthquake kills 700,000 in northern China (an omen?).
September 9, 1976: Mao dies in Beijing at the age of 82.
Oct 1976: The Gang of Four—the strongest proponents of the Cultural Revolution—is
arrested. Mao’s wife refuses to admit her crimes and receives the harshest sentence. Her
death sentence is later commuted to life imprisonment. In 1991, she hangs herself while
suffering from terminal cancer.
8 Mao's political and economic

9 Objectives of Chinese Foreign Policy

The basic objectives of the policy center on safeguarding national independence and state
sovereignty, and creating an international environment favorable to its reform, opening and
modernization efforts, as well as maintaining world peace and promoting common
development.

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China has unswervingly pursued an independent foreign policy of peace. The basic
objectives of the policy center on safeguarding national independence and state
sovereignty, and creating an international environment favorable to its reform, opening and
modernization efforts, as well as maintaining world peace and promoting common
development. The policy is based on the following main elements:
1- Maintaining independence. We are principled in international affairs, determining our
own position and policies in accordance with the merits of each case and never yielding to
pressure from major powers, nor entering into alliance with any major power or power bloc.
2- Maintaining world peace. China does not participate in the arms race, nor does it seek
military expansion. China resolutely opposes hegemonism, power politics, aggression and
expansion in whatever form, as well as encroachments perpetrated by one country on the
sovereignty and territorial integrity of another, or interference in the internal affairs of
another nation under the pretext of ethnic, religious or human rights issues.
3- Friendly relations and cooperation. China sincerely hopes to establish and develop
friendly ties and cooperative relationship with all countries on the basis of the Five
Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. Relations with other states are never based on social
systems or ideologies.
4- Good-neighborly and friendly relations. China has vigorously advanced friendly relations
with neighboring countries, worked diligently for regional peace and stability, and promoted
regional economic cooperation. Our nation stands for fair and reasonable settlements of
border and territorial disputes through negotiations and consultations, including the
offshore territory. Disputes defying immediate solutions can be temporarily shelved in the
spirit of seeking common ground while putting aside differences. They should never be
allowed to stand in the way of the development of normal state-to-state relations.
5- Enhanced unity and cooperation with developing countries. This factor has always been
a cornerstone of our foreign policy. We attach great importance to the development of
comprehensive friendly relations and cooperation with other developing countries. We have
vigorously explored ways to engage in mutually complementary cooperation with other
developing nations in the economic, trade, scientific and technological sectors, and have
expanded consultations and cooperation with them on international issues in order to
maintain the rights and interests of all developing countries.
6- Opening policy. China is open to both developed and developing countries and has
engaged in extensive international cooperation on the basis of equality and mutual benefit
to promote common development. China, the world's largest developing country and a
permanent member of the UN Security Council, stands ready to make unremitting efforts to
ensure world peace and development, and the establishment of a new fair and equitable
international political and economic order based on peace and stability.
10 Chinese Indian hostility in the 1960's
Half a century ago, Sino-Indian relations moved from friendship to war within only five
years. In June 1954, the two countries agreed on panch sheel, the five principles of
coexistence. Sixty-two months later, they shot at each other across their unsettled border in
the Himalayas. The attempt to sort out their differences during talks between their two
prime ministers, Jawaharlal Nehru and Zhou Enlai, failed in April 1960. The downfall of Sino-
Indian friendship was related to events in Tibet. The land between China proper and India
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was the source of most misunderstandings, and its unsettled borders the root for the wars
in 1959 and 1962.
The Sino-Indian War also known as Indo-China War, Indo-China War of 1962 or Sino-Indian
War of 1962, took place between China and India from October to November 1962. It was a
military escalation of the Sino-Indian border dispute. Fighting occurred along India's border
with China: east of Bhutan about the North-East Frontier Agency of India; and, west
of Nepal, about the Ladakh region of India and for control of Aksai Chin.
There had been a series of violent border skirmishes between the two countries after
the 1959 Tibetan uprising, when India granted asylum to the Dalai Lama. Chinese military
action grew increasingly aggressive after India rejected proposed Chinese diplomatic
settlements throughout 1960–1962, with China re-commencing previously banned "forward
patrols" in Ladakh after 30 April 1962.
Amidst the Cuban Missile Crisis, China abandoned all attempts towards a peaceful
resolution on 20 October 1962, invading disputed territory along the 3,225-kilometre
(2,004 mi) border in Ladakh and across the McMahon Line in the northeastern frontier.
Chinese troops pushed back Indian forces in both theatres, capturing all of their claimed
territory in the western theatre and the Tawang Tract in the eastern theatre. The conflict
ended when China unilaterally declared a ceasefire on 20 November 1962, and
simultaneously announced its withdrawal to pre-war position, also known as the "Line of
Actual Control" (i.e., the effective China–India border).
Much of the fighting comprised mountain warfare, entailing large-scale combat at altitudes
of over 4,000 metres (13,000 feet). Notably, the war took place entirely on land, without the
use of naval or air assets by either side.
As the Sino-Soviet split deepened, the Soviet Union made a major effort to support India,
especially with the sale of advanced MiG fighter-aircraft. Simultaneously, the United
States and the United Kingdom refused to sell advanced weaponry to India, further
compelling it to turn to the Soviets for military aid.
11 US Chinese Detente in the 1970's.
Sino-American Alliance
The United States continued to work to prevent the PRC from taking China's seat in the
United Nations Assembly. America placed an embargo on trade and encouraged her allies
not to deal with the PRC. Despite this a series of meeting did take place between the two
governments beginning in 1954 and continuing until 1970. One of the outcomes of these
meetings was that by the late 1960's the United States began to relax trade restrictions with
China and was looking for ways to develop a more open dialogue.
An incident involving the table tennis teams of America and China is seen by many as a
catalyst for the ensuing change in the relationship between the two countries. In April 1971,
at the World table tennis championships in Nagoya Japan, Glenn Cowan, a member of the
American team boarded the Chinese team bus. At that time it was a serious offence for a
Chinese citizen to speak to a foreigner. The Chinese player Zhuang Zedong felt that to ignore
Cowan was contrary to the Chinese tradition of hospitality and so he offered the American a
gift.

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This broke the ice and subsequently due to the intervention of Mao, the American team
were invited to compete in a competition held in Beijing.
In April 1971, the United States lifted its trade embargo with China and in June of that year
Henry Kissinger (Security Adviser to Richard Nixon) made a secret visit to Beijing to make
arrangements for a visit by President Nixon the following year.
The visit took place in February 1972 amid great media coverage. This visit symbolised the
way forward and although few concrete achievements were made at the time, the visit
helped to ease the tensions between the two powers. Further visits followed in subsequent
years -President Ford in 1975 and President Carter in 1977. All this activity finally led to the
establishing of diplomatic relations between the United States and China on 1 January 1979.
12 Russian-Chinese Relations
"Sino-Russian relations since 1991" redirects here. For the state of Sino-Russian relations
before 1991, see History of Sino-Russian relations.
China–Russia relations, are the international relations between the People's Republic of
China and the Russian Federation. Diplomatic relations between China and Russia improved
after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and establishment of the Russian Federation in
1991. American scholar Joseph Nye states:
With the collapse of the Soviet Union, that de facto US-China alliance ended, and a China–
Russia rapprochement began. In 1992, the two countries declared that they were pursuing a
"constructive partnership"; in 1996, they progressed toward a "strategic partnership"; and
in 2001, they signed a treaty of "friendship and cooperation."
The two countries share a land border which was demarcated in 1991, and they signed
the Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation in 2001, which was renewed in
June 2021 for five more years. On the eve of a 2013 state visit to Moscow by Chinese
leader Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin remarked that the two nations were
forging a special relationship. The two countries have enjoyed close relations militarily,
economically, and politically, while supporting each other on various global issues.
Commentators have debated whether the bilateral strategic partnership constitutes an
alliance. Russia and China officially declared their relations 'Not allies, but better than allies'.
The relations between China and Russia go back to the 17th-century, when the Qing
dynasty tried to drive Russian settlers out of Manchuria, ended by the signing of the Treaty
of Nerchinsk. During the Cold War, China and the USSR were rivals after the Sino-Soviet
split in 1961, competing for control of the worldwide Communist movement. There was a
serious possibility of a major war between the two nations in the early 1960s; a brief border
war took place in 1969. This enmity began to lessen after the death of Chinese Communist
Party chairman Mao Zedong in 1976, but relations were poor until the fall of the Soviet
Union in 1991.
In 2001, the close relations between the two countries were formalized with the Treaty of
Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation, a twenty-year strategic, economic, and –
controversially and arguably – an implicit military treaty. A month before the treaty was
signed, the two countries joined with junior partners Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan,
and Uzbekistan in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). Still active as of 2022, the
organization is expected to counter the growing influence of the United States military

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outreach program in Central Asia. The PRC is currently a key purchaser and licensee of
Russian military equipment, some of which have been instrumental in the modernization of
the People's Liberation Army. The PRC is also a main beneficiary of the Russian Eastern
Siberia – Pacific Ocean oil pipeline.
13 Nuclear policy
China is one of the five nuclear weapons states (NWS) recognized by the Nuclear Non-
Proliferation Treaty, which China ratified in 1992. China is the only NWS to give an
unqualified security assurance to non-nuclear-weapon states:
"China undertakes not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against non-
nuclear-weapon States or nuclear-weapon-free zones at any time or under any
circumstances."
Chinese public policy has always been one of the "no first use rule" while maintaining a
deterrent retaliatory force targeted for countervalue targets.
In 2005, the Chinese Foreign Ministry released a white paper stating that the
government "would not be the first to use [nuclear] weapons at any time and in any
circumstance". In addition, the paper went on to state that this "no first use" policy
would remain unchanged in the future and that China would not use or threaten to use
nuclear weapons against any non-nuclear-weapon states or nuclear-weapon-free zones.
China normally stores nuclear warheads separately from their launching systems, unless
there is a heightened threat level.
China, along with all other nuclear weapon states and all members of NATO with the
exception of the Netherlands, decided not to sign the UN treaty on the Prohibition of
Nuclear Weapons, a binding agreement for negotiations for the total elimination
of nuclear weapons.
China refused to join talks in 2020 between the U.S. and Russia on extending their
bilateral New START nuclear arms reduction treaty, as the Trump
administration requested. China's position is that as its nuclear warhead arsenal is a
small fraction of the U.S. and Russia arsenals, their inclusion in an arms reduction treaty
is unnecessary, and that it will join such talks when both U.S. and Russia has reduced
their arsenal to near China's level.
14 Iran between the Two World Wars
During and immediately following World War I, British and Russian (later Soviet) troops
occupied large pieces of once independent Persia, now known as Iran, despite the country’s
declared neutrality.1 A military oΩcer serving in the Persian Cossack Brigade and an ardent
Persian nationalist, Reza Khan led a military conspiracy aimed at the reestablishment of
Iran’s sovereignty under a strong central government. Backed by the British, Reza Khan led a
coup d’etat in February 1921, seizing control over Tehran and forcing the weak and corrupt
Qajar Shah to appoint journalist Sayyid Zia al-Din Tabatabai as prime minister, and himself—
Reza Khan—as minister of war.
After he had suppressed several rebellions and established a semblance of centralized
control in the country, the Persian national assembly appointed Reza Khan as prime minister
in 1923 with virtual dictatorial power. After crushing an Arab nationalist rebellion and with
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British backing, Reza Khan induced the assembly to depose the Qatar Shah and appoint
himself Shah on December 13, 1925. Reza took the name Pahlavi in establishing his new
dynasty. The assembly also recognized his eldest son, Muhammad-Reza, as heir to the
throne.
On September 11, 1941, British Envoy Sir Reader S. Bullard met with Iran’s prime minister,
Mohammad-Ali Furuqi, to demand the immediate removal of Reza Shah in favor of his son,
Muhammad Reza Pahlavi, who was known to be pro-British.21 Five days later, on
September 16, Reza Shah abdicated and went into exile, leaving his son as shah. Reza Shah
died in Johannesburg, South Africa, on July 26, 1944.
In January 1942, Iran, the Soviet Union, and Great Britain signed a Tripartite Treaty of
Alliance. In this agreement, the Allies recognized Iranian territorial integrity, sovereignty,
and political independence. They also pledged to protect the Iranian economy from the
e∏ects of the war. Most importantly, they promised to withdraw from Iranian territory
within six months of the end of the war.23 By the spring of 1942, Iran had cut o∏ all
relations with the Axis Powers and had expelled all of their nationals residing in Iran.
On September 9, 1943, Iran declared war on Germany. Shortly after, between November 28
and December 1, 1943, the leaders of the Big Three met in Tehran. United States President
Franklin Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet Communist Party
General Secretary Josef Stalin attended, discussing military strategies against Germany and
Japan and the post World War II era. They also signed the “Declaration of the Three Powers
Regarding Iran,” an agreement providing economic assistance to Iran during and after the
war.
The impact of World War II on Iran was devastating. Iranian neutrality was ignored and the
country lost its de facto independence to occupying forces. The British and Soviet
authorities dominated the use of major roadways and the TransIranian Railroad for their
own purposes, and sequestered and deployed Iranian manpower and equipment for the
war e∏ort. With few resources left for farming, combined with a bad harvest in 1942 and an
enormous influx of European refugees, famine spread and many people died. Instability
within the political and social arenas grew and the economy suffered.
14 The Era of Mohammad Raza Shah Pehlvi
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (Persian: ‫محمدرضا شاه پهلوی‬, pronounced [mohæmˈmæd reˈzɒː
pæhlæˈviː]; 26 October 1919 – 27 July 1980), also known as Mohammad Reza Shah (‫محمدرضا‬
‫)شاه‬, was the last Shah (King) of the Imperial State of Iran from 16 September 1941 until his
overthrow in the Islamic Revolution on 11 February 1979. Owing to his status, he was
usually known as the Shah.
Mohammad Reza Shah took the title Shahanshah ("King of Kings") on 26 October 1967 and
held several other titles, including that of Aryamehr ("Light of the Aryans") and Bozorg
Arteshtaran ("Commander-in-Chief"). He was the second and last monarch of the House of
Pahlavi. His dream of what he referred to as a "Great Civilization" (Persian: ‫تم دن‬
‫بزرگ‬, romanized: tamadon-e bozorg) in Iran led to a rapid industrial and military
modernization, as well as economic and social reforms.
Mohammad Reza came to power during World War II after the Anglo-Soviet invasion which
forced the abdication of his father, Reza Shah Pahlavi. During Mohammad Reza's reign, the
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British owned oil industry was briefly nationalized by Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad
Mosaddegh until an Army coup d'état supported by the UK and the US deposed Mosaddegh,
reinstalled the Shah, and brought back foreign oil firms under the Consortium Agreement of
1954. The Shah went on to become a dominant figure in OPEC, promoting a surge in oil
prices that crippled Western economies.
Mohammad Reza introduced the White Revolution, a series of economic, social, and
political reforms aimed at transforming Iran into a global power and modernizing the nation
by nationalizing key industries and land redistribution. The regime implemented
many Iranian nationalist policies leading to the establishment of Cyrus the Great, Cyrus
Cylinder, and Tomb of Cyrus the Great as popular symbols of Iran.
The Shah initiated major investments in infrastructure, subsidies and land grants for peasant
populations, profit sharing for industrial workers, construction of nuclear facilities, the
nationalization of Iran's natural resources, and literacy programs which were considered
some of the most effective in the world. The Shah also instituted economic policy  tariffs and
preferential loans to Iranian businesses which sought to create an independent economy for
the nation. Manufacturing of cars, appliances, and other goods in Iran increased
substantially leading to the creation of a new industrialist class that was considered
insulated from threats of foreign competition. By the 1970s, the Shah was seen as a master
statesman and used his growing power to pass the 1973 Sale and Purchase Agreement.
15 Iran in the Post-Cold War Era
It is becoming increasingly difficult to re-sist subscribing to the idea that the end of
the Cold War did not bring about a new world order. The image presented of such a
new world order was one of an evolving international consensus that was to
embrace all that countervails against the political-military confrontations of the old
bipolar system. Euphemisms of democracy, free-dom, market economy, pluralism,
and free-dom of choice were used to persuade the international community that we
are on the threshold of an order whose hallmark could not but include, inter alia, a
global partner-ship for peace, along with security and pros-perity founded on general
principles of con-sensus, all-inclusiveness, interdependence of historically dissimilar units,
and, above all,abandonment of power politics in the con-duct of international
relations. However, the unfolding events of the last few years, and particularly the
manner in which major international players conducted themselves in respect to these
events, has left little doubt that at this juncture of history such an idealistic new
world order is far-fetched, if not a mere chimera.

Iran’s location between the USSR and the Persian Gulf, and the presence of major oil
reserves—guaranteed the country’s importance during the Cold War. In addition, a third
factor came into play: the emergence, even before the end of World War II, of the global
military and ideological competition between the United States and the Soviet Union. Fear
of losing influence in a vital part of the world to Soviet-led Communism motivated much of
American foreign policy for the next several decades. American sentiment about
competition and democracy was spelled out, sometimes in almost Biblical terms, in
conceptual documents like NSC-68 and in numerous policy papers over the years.

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In two key incidents in Iran from the post-war period these precepts were plainly evident,
and produced consequences for the United States that were in some ways utterly
unanticipated. At other moments later in the Cold War, described further below,
Washington’s fixation on the Soviet threat left it unprepared to deal with crises of local
origin that were equally significant for America’s standing in the region.
The first of these earlier episodes unfolded at the end of the Second World War when the
USSR threatened to abrogate its agreement with Britain and Iran to remove its large troop
presence from Iran’s northern province of Azerbaijan within six months of the cessation of
hostilities. Anxious to gain an oil concession that would balance Britain’s privileged access in
the south of the country, as well as to create a buffer zone in a vulnerable border region,
Joseph Stalin planned to solidify Soviet influence in the southern Caucasus region—perhaps
even to annex part of Azerbaijan province, according to Soviet archival records—but met
surprising resistance from President Harry Truman, who gave a range of support to the
young Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Stalin ultimately decided to withdraw from
the country in late 1946. The actions of the United States were seen as a sign of genuine
respect for the rights of sovereign states—highly unusual for a major power—and made a
powerful impression on the Iranian people. To this day, the Azerbaijan crisis accounts for
some of the positive views many still have of the United States.
16 Iran and the Islamic Revolution.
Iranian Revolution, also called Islamic Revolution, Persian Enqelāb-e Eslāmī, popular uprising
in Iran in 1978–79 that resulted in the toppling of the monarchy on February 11, 1979, and led to the
establishment of an Islamic republic.
Prelude to revolution
The 1979 revolution, which brought together Iranians across many different social groups, has its
roots in Iran’s long history. These groups, which included clergy, landowners, intellectuals, and
merchants, had previously come together in the Constitutional Revolution of 1905–11. Efforts
toward satisfactory reform were continually stifled, however, amid reemerging social tensions as
well as foreign intervention from Russia, the United Kingdom, and, later, the United States. The
United Kingdom helped Reza Shah Pahlavi establish a monarchy in 1921. Along with Russia, the U.K.
then pushed Reza Shah into exile in 1941, and his son Mohammad Reza Pahlavi took the throne. In
1953, amid a power struggle between Mohammed Reza Shah and Prime Minister Mohammad
Mosaddegh, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the U.K. Secret Intelligence Service (MI6)
orchestrated a coup against Mosaddegh’s government.
17 Cultural Revolution and its impact in china
The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was
a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and
lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goal was to preserve Chinese communism by purging remnants
of capitalist and traditional elements from Chinese society. The Revolution marked the effective
commanding return of Mao –who was still the Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)– to the
centre of power, after a period of self-abstention and ceding to less radical leadership in the aftermath of
the Mao-led Great Leap Forward debacle and the Great Chinese Famine (1959–1961). The Revolution
failed to achieve its main goals.
The Cultural Revolution was characterized by violence and chaos. Death toll claims vary widely,
with estimates of those perishing during the Revolution ranging from hundreds of thousands to millions.
Beginning with the Red August of Beijing, massacres took place nationwide, including the Guangxi
Massacre, in which massive cannibalism also occurred;[1][2] the Inner Mongolia incident; the Guangdong
Massacre; the Yunnan Massacres; and the Hunan Massacres. Red Guards destroyed historical relics and
artifacts, as well as ransacking cultural and religious sites. The 1975 Banqiao Dam failure, one of the
world's greatest technological catastrophes, also occurred during the Cultural Revolution. Meanwhile,
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tens of millions of people were persecuted: senior officials, most notably Chinese president Liu Shaoqi,
along with Deng Xiaoping, Peng Dehuai, and He Long, were purged or exiled; millions were accused of
being members of the Five Black Categories, suffering public humiliation, imprisonment, torture, hard
labor, seizure of property, and sometimes execution or harassment into suicide; intellectuals were
considered the "Stinking Old Ninth" and were widely persecuted—notable scholars and scientists such
as Lao She, Fu Lei, Yao Tongbin, and Zhao Jiuzhang were killed or committed suicide. Schools and
universities were closed with the college entrance exams cancelled. Over 10 million urban intellectual
youths were sent to the countryside in the Down to the Countryside Movement.

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