The Taliban, US decline and the power of China and Russia

 

Rubén Alexis Hernández

 

The withdrawal of the US army from Afghanistan shows, among other things, that the declining North American power did not invade the Asian nation to liberate its people, nor was it its intention during any of the invasions of many countries since the 19th century; that it suffered a harsh military and geopolitical defeat after two decades of intervention in a political-territorial entity that has well earned its reputation as the tomb of empires; and that it has lost influence in Asia to the growing push of powers such as China, Russia and Iran. Almost 20 years of direct US interventionism in Afghanistan did nothing but cause a monumental disaster in every sense, to increase the power and territorial presence of the Taliban, and to dramatically increase the acreage of poppies and the production of heroin, to mention just three dire consequences of the North American adventure:

 

“In less than a week, the Taliban has captured nearly a dozen key cities in Afghanistan. With the departure of US forces, it is poised to take over the country from the embattled Afghan government”  https://theconversation.com/afghanistan-taliban-victory-inevitable-despite-the-trillions-the-us-poured-in-166060

 

So the United States, which supposedly intervened in the Asian country to combat terrorism, only deepened it by allowing in one way or another violent extremists to strengthen themselves, such as the Taliban, who not only took over Afghanistan in the face of impotence. of the demoralized invading army in disarray, but are causing an unwarranted blood bath, leaving global public opinion dumbfounded.

 

And with the defeat of the imperial eagle in the tomb of the powerful political-territorial entities, the US decadence and the progressive loss of its dominance in the Asian continent is clearly evidenced, which on the other hand ends up benefiting nations such as China and Russia, with interests in West Asia and growing influence in the region. In fact, an important reason for the United States to invade Afghanistan in 2001 was to keep Russia and China at bay, competitors with the North Americans for hegemony in Asia and the rest of the planet. Therefore, the current outlook is positive for the interests of Chinese, Russians and some of their allies, with whom the Taliban would already be negotiating to try to maintain the social-religious-political power of Afghanistan and survive economically:

 

“Russia is mostly concerned with preventing instability at its border with Afghanistan, and with keeping Afghanistan free of US influence. Since the 1990s Moscow has been developing relations with different groups in Afghanistan, including the Taliban, despite misgivings about the Taliban’s possible support for terror groups.

 

These relations intensified after the emergence of Islamic State in 2015. In the fight to defeat IS in Afghanistan, Russia saw the Taliban’s interests coincide with its own.

 

Reports surfaced that Russia was arming the Afghan Taliban and directly undermining US efforts there, even paying bounties to kill US and allied soldiers. US intelligence has since expressed low confidence in the bounty claims.

 

China, meanwhile, has always maintained cordial relations with the Taliban. China’s main concern is with extending its influence westward to gain strategic depth against India and the US”  https://theconversation.com/afghanistan-taliban-victory-inevitable-despite-the-trillions-the-us-poured-in-166060

 

Generally speaking, the defeat of the United States in Afghanistan means not only its local military failure favorable in the first place to the taliban, but it has given ground to its rivals for Asian and world control, especially China and Russia, which deepens the US decline that began some years ago. It also accelerates the dangerous pretense of the North Americans to consolidate a global alliance to drag the world into a total warlike confrontation, and thus try to stop the Chinese, Russians and Iranians, to name some of the enemies of the United States.