[New post] China and Russia are the real winners

philebersole posted: "The real winners in Afghanistan were Russia and China.   The intrepid foreign correspondent Pepe Escobar of Asia Times reported on how the Russians and Chinese have advised the Taliban on how to put their best foot forward.  He went on to write: What m" Respond to this post by replying above this line New post on Phil Ebersole's Blog China and Russia are the real winners by philebersole The real winners in Afghanistan were Russia and China.   The intrepid foreign correspondent Pepe Escobar of Asia Times reported on how the Russians and Chinese have advised the Taliban on how to put their best foot forward.  He went on to write: What matters is that Russia-China are way ahead of the curve, cultivating parallel inside tracks of diplomatic dialogue with the Taliban.  It's always crucial to remember that Russia harbors 20 million Muslims, and China at least 35 million.  These will be called to support the immense project of Afghan reconstruction – and full Eurasia reintegration. Source: BBC Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi saw it coming weeks ago.  And that explains the meeting in Tianjin in late July, when he hosted a high-level Taliban delegation, led by Mullah Baradar, de facto conferring them total political legitimacy. Beijing already knew the Saigon moment was inevitable. Thus the statement stressing China expected to "play an important role in the process of peaceful reconciliation and reconstruction in Afghanistan". What this means in practice is China will be a partner of Afghanistan on infrastructure investment, via Pakistan, incorporating it into an expanded China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) bound to diversify connectivity channels with Central Asia. The New Silk Road corridor from Xinjiang to the port of Gwadar in the Arabian Sea will branch out: the first graphic illustration is Chinese construction of the ultra-strategic Peshawar-Kabul highway. The Chinese are also building a major road across the geologically spectacular, deserted Wakhan corridor from western Xinjiang all the way to Badakhshan province, which incidentally, is now under total Taliban control. The trade off is quite straightforward: the Taliban should allow no safe haven for the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), and no interference in Xinjiang. The overall trade/security combo looks like a certified win-win.  And we're not even talking about future deals allowing China to exploit Afghanistan's immense mineral wealth. LINK How Russia-China are stage-managing the Taliban by Pepe Escobar for The Vineyard of the Saker. philebersole | August 19, 2021 at 9:04 am | Tags: Afguanistan, China, new silk road, Russia | Categories: Foreign Affairs | URL: https://wp.me/pMUbO-pC7 Comment    See all comments    Like Unsubscribe to no longer receive posts from Phil Ebersole's Blog. Change your email settings at Manage Subscriptions. Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser: https://philebersole.wordpress.com/2021/08/19/china-and-russia-are-the-real-winners/ Thanks for flying with WordPress.com