Both China and Russia are warning that there’s a very real danger that Afghanistan will descend into total hell as the U.S. pulls out – which has been the British Imperial intention in that part of Eurasia from the beginning. As Schiller Institute founder Helga Zepp-LaRouche argued in her July 3 interview with CGTN, the only policy that can prevent such a nightmare is massive economic development of not only Afghanistan but the whole region that has been devastated by the U.S.-British permanent war policy. The U.S., Russia, China, Iran, India and other countries should all work together to bring China’s Belt and Road Initiative to the whole region and this initiative should be the subject of a summit of the permanent five members of the UN security Council. [https://schillerinstitute.com/blog/2021/07/04/helga-zepp-larouche-interviewed-on-cgtns-asia-today/; https://www.cgtn.com/tv/replay?id=CCfBcA]
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on July 3 ridiculed Washington’s decision to finalize a “safe and orderly exit” from Afghanistan and charged that the U.S. is “the source,” of the ongoing conflicts on the world stage, reported Newsweek. “The U.S., as the origin of problems in Afghanistan, should be responsible for making sure the transition in the country will be stable. The U.S. cannot evade responsibility, and cannot cause instability or war by withdrawing troops,” Wang said. “As friendly neighbors that share the flow of mountain ranges and rivers, China is determined to support the peaceful transition in Afghanistan,” he continued, and stating that the U.S. should stop pretending to be a “defender” of the Afghan people. Wang said Beijing remains committed to ongoing “peaceful dialogue” with Washington, but warned against “military threats and putting pressure on North Korea.”
South China Morning Post, in an extensive analysis published yesterday, reports that the collapse of Afghanistan is threatening to spill over into Pakistan, endangering the security of China’s overland link between Kashgar and the Arabian Sea port of Gwadar, Pakistan, that it operates. Following an account of the demoralization of the Afghan security forces in the face of seemingly unstoppable Taliban offensives, SCMP reports that the Afghan Taliban has been supported by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) insurgents who fled to Afghanistan in 2015 to escape a decisive Pakistani military counteroffensive on their tribal area strongholds along the border. According to a UN monitoring report issued in June, some 5,000 TTP militants are currently based in Afghanistan. From its bases in Afghanistan, SCMP reports, the TTP has been ramping up its own campaign of violence in at least four tribal districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa inside Pakistan. The TTP has extended its cross-border terrorism campaign to areas of restive western Balochistan province this year, where the Chinese-operated port of Gwadar is located.
