A handover ceremony as U.S. troops prepare to leave Afghanistan. Afghan Ministry of Defense Press Office via AP
Politico: China’s fears increase as U.S. troops leave Afghanistan
China has long dreaded the regional and domestic security implications of a peremptory U.S. withdrawal from neighboring Afghanistan.
Beijing is now watching that scenario play out as a seemingly unstoppable Taliban offensive against the increasingly beleaguered Afghan National Security Forces penetrated Kabul, the heavily fortified capital, on Wednesday.
China was dismayed by what it perceived as the “unilateral” nature of President Joe Biden’s Afghanistan withdrawal announcement in April, Barnett Rubin, a former adviser to the special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, told China Watcher.
Rubin, who has co-chaired a U.S.-China dialogue on Afghanistan since 2012, said the U.S. withdrawal was the articulation of China’s long-standing fear “that the U.S. could get out of Afghanistan too soon,” and create a dangerous regional security vacuum.
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WNU Editor: The Chinese are not the only ones who are concerned on the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan .... Russia-Led Drills Begin on Afghanistan Border (Moscow Times).
