The Inner Six were the six founding member states- Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands– of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). It was created by the Treaty of Paris in 1951. The aim was to develop a mechanism to finally put an end to the continent’s long history of economic turmoil and bloody warfare. Founded in the aftermath of the Second World War, the ECSC began to unite European nations politically and economically to secure lasting peace. Today, the European integration culminates into the European Union (EU) which governs common political, economic, social, and security policies of the twenty-seven member states.
The European continent which was indulged in wars for centuries sought closer economic, social, and political ties to accomplish economic prosperity as well as to promote lasting peace.
With the same purpose, the six neighboring countries of Afghanistan are coming together for the peace and development of the entire region They are proactively engaging with Afghanistan. Pakistan, Iran, China, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan aim to develop a unified regional approach. Afghanistan had been facing war and instability for forty years now. The chaos and instability in Afghanistan gave rise to terrorism which affected the peace of the entire Asian region. It also affected the economic prosperity of Afghanistan, and the desire for regional connectivity could never be materialized.
The prospects for development and peace in the region are brighter. Let us explore why?
Afghanistan It is located at the crossroads of Central and South Asia, and it also possesses natural resources like iron, copper, lithium, rare earth elements, cobalt, bauxite, mercury, uranium, and chromium. Afghanistan is thought to have so much lithium, an increasingly crucial metal used in battery technology, that it may one day be dubbed the “Saudi Arabia of lithium.”
On the other hand, Central Asian countries are the hub of natural resources.
Uzbekistan comprises substantial reserves of coal, oil, and natural gas. Turkmenistan is the seventh-largest natural gas reserve in the world. It is also rich in sulfur, petroleum, sulfur, salt, iodine, cement, bentonite clays, limestone, and gypsum. Tajikistan possesses deposits of gold, silver, lead and zinc, antimony, tin, tungsten, iron, aluminum, strontium, coal, rock salt, phosphorite, and natural gas.
Mineral oil, coal, natural gas, gypsum, iron or chromite, copper, salt, limestone, and marble are extensively found in Pakistan among others. Iran comprises the second-largest stockpile of gas and the fourth largest of oil in the world. And China, the second-biggest economic giant, has a substantial role to play by connecting these countries. Through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Beijing intends to enhance regional connectivity and embrace a promising future.
Afghanistan and all its neighboring countries can benefit if the trade of such natural resources is materialized through economic cooperation which in turn results in peace. ECSC created a free-trade area for several key economic resources such as coal, coke, steel, scrap, and iron ore. The benefits of economic cooperation led the European countries on the path of a shared goal of development and peace.
Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran in his article titled, “Meeting of Afghanistan’s neighbors in Tehran: Together for peace and development,” underscored the importance of cooperation as, “Today, the countries in the region have learned by experience that the objectives of sustainable security, welfare, and development are achievable only through regional synergy and cooperation among neighbors.”
The ECSC (now EU), was the result of the efforts of neighboring countries of Germany. And Germany is one the founding members as well which remained the center of the two Great Wars. Germany and France were bitter enemies of each other until the end of the Second World War. Their enmity was one of the major reasons for WWII. By addressing the core cause of the war, the Schuman Declaration aimed to prevent further war between France and Germany, as well as other states. The ECSC was largely designed to benefit France and Germany:
“The coming together of European nations demands that the opposition of France and Germany be eliminated: the action undertaken must primarily affect France and Germany.”
French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman was presenting his plan, famously known as Schuman Declaration.
Given the significance of steel and coal industries to produce munitions, Robert Schuman (the architect of the European integration project) maintained that the unification of these two industries across Germany and France through supranationalism, besides including an anti-cartel agency from Europe, would be able to make war materially impossible and unthinkable. Now the EU under the leadership of Germany and France is the finest example of integration and cooperation that have wielded long-lasting peace in the continent.
Although, Afghanistan was facing war due to external intervention, first by the Soviet Union in 1979 and later by the US in 2001, and it has no rivalry with its neighbors. Yet, Afghanistan needs the support of other countries in maintaining peace and development, as Germany did. As I wrote in my article, “Anatol Lieven’s Prediction on Afghanistan”, Afghanistan is a problem for the regional neighbors. All these countries have stakes in the peace and stability of Afghanistan. The country’s neighbors have realized the cost of abandoning Kabul following the Soviets Union’s withdrawal at the end of the Cold War.
The Soviet war that was fought for ten years resulted in a civil war, and the Taliban’s takeover of power. While the United States and its allies were busy pouring billions against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, they didn’t pay heed to Afghanistan’s restoration after the Soviet War left it utterly destroyed. Eventually, the terrorist attacks of 9/11 in the US turned the world into a topsy-turvy.
History is evident of the fact that war-torn states cannot stand by themselves, and the circumstances get worse if they are punished or abandoned. Germany, which was abandoned and greatly punished by the Allied Powers after WWI, came out more rebellious and a threat to the world’s security.
On the other hand, after WWII, same Germany is now one of the greatest European powers because it was provided economic assistance by the US, and later the neighboring countries engaged it towards a peaceful future.
In this scenario, it is the need of the hour that Afghanistan’s neighbors continue their policy of engagement in Afghanistan because it opens new vistas of development, connectivity, peace, and prosperity as it did in the European continent. And the menace of the war in Afghanistan which affects other regional countries as well can end.
The writer is a Research Fellow at the Institute of Peace and Diplomatic Studies and The Diplomatic Insight.
*The opinions expressed by the writers do not necessarily imply endorsement by the Institutions.
