Liu Zongyi

Opinion | What China wants from Afghanistan: stability and security

China is less interested in Afghanistan’s mineral wealth or its potential as part of the Belt and Road Initiative than in its security, especially in the regions bordering Xinjiang

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Liu Zongyi

Published: 1:30am, 11 Oct 2021

Since the Afghan Taliban entered Kabul last month, the situation in Afghanistan and the role of China, Russia, Pakistan and Afghanistan’s other neighbours have become the focus of the international media.

Many in the West and India have linked the Afghan Taliban’s seizure of power to China-US relations, China-India relations and India-Pakistan relations.

They believe that the Taliban’s capture of power is a positive development for China and Pakistan, and a strategic failure for the West, particularly the United States, and India. The reason for this is mainly thinking in terms of geopolitical competition and zero-sum games.

The rapid capture of Kabul by the Taliban and its seizure of power came as a surprise to almost everyone. One reason for the Taliban’s swift success was that the US’ hasty withdrawal of its troops crushed the morale of the Ashraf Ghani government and its troops.

Another reason is that. after 20 years of biding its time, the Taliban has matured a lot politically, and the political tactics it used in the process of seizing power were very clever.

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Taliban claims complete control of last Afghan province of Panjshir

In addition, the Taliban’s victory also shows that its governance model is considered reasonable by the Afghan people, while the government backed by the United States did not have the support of the people. Of course, many people, especially in the US and other Western countries, would see this argument as being of the “existence is reasonable” variety, but this is the reality of Afghanistan.