China's Belt Road Initiative Under Threat In Pakistan As Taliban's Terror Factions Unite

Analysts believe that the coming together of separated factions of Pakistan’s Taliban is a cause of a concern for China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in northwestern part of the country, ANI has reported.

Jamaat ul-Ahrar, Hizb ul-Ahrar and Hakeemullah Mehsud are the three groups of Taliban that had split in 2014 due to leadership issues.

Last month, they unified yet again and are joined by Lakshar-e-Jhangvi from Balochistan this time around. These developments have the potential to create internal security complications and also threaten the security of Chinese nationals and their projects.

This report from ANI states that the reunified Tehreek-e-Taliban has already kidnapped and killed Chinese nationals in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

“In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province's various remote areas, several Chinese development projects, mainly in the field of hydro-electricity generation and infrastructure, are going on. The Pakistan Taliban's recent reunification has increased concerns about the safety of Chinese nationals and projects,” an Islamabad-based security official explained to the Nekkei Asian Review on the condition of anonymity.

Apparently, the Pakistani security officers have already been deployed in order to provide security to Chinese internationals based in the aforementioned conflict regions.