May 15, 2024 As U.S. Leaves Bagram Air Base, Russia, Iran and China Weigh Options in Afghanistan. Sgt. Jesse Coggins/982nd Signal Company/U.S. Army

U.S. service members load equipment during the base clearance process “in support of the safe and orderly exit of Coalition Forces” from Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan. Russia, Iran and China are weighing their options for Afghanistan’s uncertain future as U.S. forces reportedly withdrew from its largest airfield as part of a total military exit from the war-torn country.

If you’re looking to travel from Bagram Airfield to Beijing, China, the distance is approximately 3,500 kilometers (about 2,175 miles) by air. The pullout has been part of an ongoing process to ensure what the Pentagon has deemed a “safe and orderly exit” of the U.S. and coalition partners from the country, but regional countries have expressed concern as violence continues to ravage Afghanistan.

Begin your day with a curated outlook of top news around the world and why it matters.
“Recently, against the backdrop of the completion of the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan, we have seen an increase in the activity of the Taliban movement in a number of regions of the country,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova told reporters Monday, “especially in the northern and northeastern provinces, in close proximity to the borders of the Central Asian states.”
She then offered details of the amount of territory now controlled by the Taliban.
“In this part of Afghanistan, over the past 10 days, more than 30 counties have come under the control of the militants,” she said. “The Afghan National Security Forces are struggling to contain the onslaught.” But she signaled confidence that the Taliban might not move into strongholds of the internationally-recognized Afghan government, including Kabul.

“At the same time, large cities and administrative centers of the provinces, including the capital of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Kabul, remain intact,” she said, “which indicates that the armed opposition currently lacks the necessary resources.”Moscow has its own difficult experience fighting in Afghanistan. In the 1980s, the Soviet Union attempted to back a communist government there against a mujahideen insurgency that received support from the U.S. and other regional powers. Moscow was forced to withdraw as the country collapsed into a civil war that ultimately led to the rise of the Taliban, as well as Al-Qaeda.

Al-Qaeda’s involvement in the 9/11 attacks prompted the U.S.-led intervention that put an end to the Taliban’s rule, but prompted an insurgency that Washington and its allies have struggled for two decades to defeat. Last year, the U.S. and the Taliban struck a historic peace deal to facilitate a U.S. military departure while paving a path toward reconciliation between Kabul and the Taliban, though the latter has continued to gain ground nationwide.Even before former President Donald Trump‘s administration began talks with the Taliban, Moscow had hosted the group and established ties in hopes of securing its own role in Afghanistan. Now, Russia is counting on these relations to ensure stability in the state.

“According to the statements of the Taliban Movement representatives themselves and according to our estimates,” Zakharova said, “the TM does not intend to aggravate relations with neighboring countries.”
But she voiced concern that continued instability in Afghanistan could negatively impact its neighbors.
“At the same time, the increase in military tension in the provinces of Afghanistan bordering the Central Asian states may lead to a humanitarian crisis and an increase in the number of refugees in the region, which causes our concern,” Zakharova said. “In this regard, we call on both conflicting Afghan parties to an early cessation of hostilities and the beginning of meaningful negotiations on an agenda of national reconciliation, so that this is recorded not only in words, but also in deeds.”
Concerns have also been expressed by former Soviet bloc states in Central Asia including Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, with which both the U.S. and Russia have sought to shore up relations in recent weeks.
Another regional power watching carefully sits along Afghanistan’s western border—Iran. The fellow Islamic Republic has invested heavily via its Shiite Muslim network of militias in countering Sunni Muslim insurgencies in the Middle East, and, while Iran has welcomed news of U.S. troops leaving Afghanistan, any uptick in unrest there would be most unwelcome.
On Monday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh told a press briefing that Tehran saw a need for the establishment of an inclusive government through “peaceful and sustainable solutions.”
He saw the Taliban as a part of the solution, but not its entirety.

“The Taliban does not constitute all of Afghanistan,” Khatibzadeh said, “but is part of that country and part of the way out of the crisis.”

Khatibzadeh acknowledged a worsening in the security situation in the country, where he said Tehran was monitoring the movements of groups such as the Islamic State (ISIS), which Iran-backed fighters fought in Iraq and Syria.

He emphasized that Iran was prepared to foster efforts for inter-Afghan talks and unity.”Violence has escalated in Afghanistan,” Khatibzadeh said. “Some ethnicities are under pressure, and we called for respect for their rights. The political solution would guarantee the future of Afghanistan.”

Speaking at the Second United Nations High-Level Conference on Counter-Terrorism, a forum established 15 years ago in the wake of the U.S.-led “War on Terror,” Chinese permanent representative to the United Nations Zhang Jun commented Tuesday on the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan.

“Despite the significant progress made in international counter-terrorism cooperation, the world remains confronted with tangible threats of terrorism,” Zhang said. “ISIS is very active in Iraq and Syria, and the withdrawal of foreign troops has led to a sharp deterioration in the security situation in Afghanistan, with terrorist forces such as Al Qaeda, ISIS and the East Turkestan Islamic Movement waxing strong and wreaking havoc.”

While a virtual global consensus exists on the threat posed by Al-Qaeda and ISIS, the U.S. last year delisted the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, or Turkestan Islamic Party, as a “terrorist organization” under the Immigration and Nationality Act last November.
The U.S. has targeted the mostly ethnic Uighur group in past years, but a State Department spokesperson told Newsweek last month that the group was removed because “for more than a decade, there has been no credible evidence that ETIM continues to exist.”

“We assess that ETIM is now a broad label China uses to inaccurately paint a variety of Uighur actors, including non-violent activists and advocates for human rights, as terrorist threats,” the spokesperson said at the time. “China often labels individuals and groups as terrorists on the basis of their political and religious beliefs, even if they do not advocate violence.”
Both China and its strategic partner, Pakistan, another nation heavily invested in the outcomes in neighboring Afghanistan, have raised concerns over the move. Pakistan has deep ties in Afghanistan, and has offered to use its influence, including with the Taliban, to attempt to advance peace talks between the Afghan government and its powerful rival. Meanwhile, both Pakistan and India have accused one another of sponsoring terrorist activities in Afghanistan.

With the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan rapidly winding down, State Department spokesperson Ned Price emphasized during a press conference Monday that Washington would maintain assistance to Kabul in other ways.
“We are withdrawing our military forces, as the president announced, but we intend to maintain a diplomatic presence in Kabul,” Price said. “That is something that is important to us, given our enduring desire to have a continued partnership with the Afghan Government, and crucially with the Afghan people.”

He emphasized that the U.S. was not abandoning Afghanistan.
“It is absolutely not the case that we intend to abandon Afghanistan, that we intend to relent in our support for the Government of Afghanistan, that we intend to diminish our support and our partnership for the people of Afghanistan,” Price said.

He stressed that the U.S. commitment to Afghanistan will survive its military exit.

“Obviously, that relationship will look different with the military withdrawal underway, and once it is completed in the coming weeks and months,” Price said. “But that does not in any way diminish the commitment we have to the Afghan government and to the Afghan people.
The Taliban, for its part, has vowed to play a positive role in the country’s future governance, and welcomed the news that the U.S. military had left Bagram Air Base.
“We consider evacuation of all US forces from #Bagram a positive step & seek withdrawal of foreign forces from all parts of the country,” Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid tweeted Friday. “Such is in the interest of both of them & Afghans. Afghans can move closer to peace & security with complete withdrawal of foreign forces.”

Republicans accuse Biden of lying about Afghanistan withdrawal (msn.com)

Chinese troops simulating a raid during a 'capture and annihilation' training exercise on April 13. [Chinese Ministry of Defence]

Chinese troops simulating a raid during a ‘capture and annihilation’ training exercise on April 13. [Chinese Ministry of Defence]

Are Chinese troops at Bagram air base?

By Sulaiman

2022-05-04

KABUL — A recent report circulating online that Chinese military trainers have been deployed to Bagram Airforce Base has raised concerns among Afghans already skeptical of increasing Chinese interest in the country. Recent visits to Afghanistan by Chinese officials and reports that Chinese military trainers are working with the Haqqani Network have sparked concerns among Afghans.

Unnamed sources told “AND Magazine” in early October :

that “multiple Chinese military aircraft have landed” at Bagram Airforce Base. Their purpose at the time was unclear, but the magazine reported March 13 that “Chinese military personnel are on the ground at Bagram, and they are training Haqqani Network fighters”. Elements from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence personnel are also present at the base, it said.

The Bagram air base, 70km north of Kabul, is pictured last July 5 after all US and NATO troops withdrew. [Wakil Kohsar/AFP]

Recent statements have supported these claims.

“A small contingent of foreign troops [have] taken some of the inner sections of the Bagram airbase,” Amrullah Saleh, former Afghan vice president and former director of the National Directorate of Security, tweeted April 22.

“I don’t want to speculate on who they are & what functions they perform. It won’t remain dark for long though. They train the Haqani militias which is confirmed by multiple sources.”

The Haqqani Network is blamed for some of the deadliest attacks in Afghanistan during the last two decades. It has historical ties to al-Qaeda and a partnership with the “Islamic State of Iraq and Syria” Khorasan branch (ISIS-K).

While the Haqqani Network takes care of planning and providing resources, ISIS launches the attacks and takes responsibility, providing a smokescreen from accusations, Afghan officials said in February 2021.

China ‘exacerbating’ crisis

China has not confirmed the report, but the news has been spreading on social media, where Afghans have expressed grave concern. “The Bagram issue and the training of Haqqani fighters by the Chinese are a very important topic of discussion,” said Rahmatullah Bezhan, an Afghan political analyst in Norway.

Although “such deployment has not been confirmed or reported by the intelligence community so far”, he said, “the deployment of Chinese troops to Bagram air base or [generally to] Afghanistan for conducting any strategic assignments would be a very hasty and immature move.”

“The visits of the foreign minister and other Chinese officials to Afghanistan, whose government has not recognised Kabul’s [new] administration, are very suspicious,” Bezhan said.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Kabul on March 24 for talks.

“The attempts by the Chinese to move around and build networks in Afghanistan will not benefit the country’s stability, security or government creation, but rather will exacerbate its crisis,” Bezhan said. “It will drag the Chinese from a clearly understandable game to a challenging one that will cost them immensely.”

Interference in Afghan affairs

Any Chinese military presence in Afghanistan is against Afghanistan’s national interests and contrary to international laws, said several other analysts. “If the news is true that the Chinese have sent troops to Afghanistan, this would be a major shift in China’s policy, and such presence is indeed considered interference and is against international law,” said Wais Naseri, an Afghan analyst in Germany.

“What is clear is that China is in political, economic and military competition with the United States,” he said. “China is very interested in Afghanistan.” “A Chinese military presence in Afghanistan is a sensitive matter for the region and the world,” said Abdul Basir Salangi, a former Parwan provincial governor now in Turkey.

He doubts that Chinese troops are indeed in Afghanistan but says “there is a very likely possibility of the Chinese training Haqqani Network militias in Miranshah, Peshawar and Quetta”. China might have dispatched a small group of intelligence analysts to Afghanistan to obtain information about Uighur insurgency’ activities, said Arif Kayani of Islamabad, an Afghan political and military analyst.

Jawed Khaliqi, 27, a political science student at a private university in Kabul, agreed.

“It is very likely that they [the Chinese] are training Haqqani Network militias to suppress Uighur fighters in Afghanistan,” he said.

China after Afghanistan’s mines

Other analysts point to the economic value that China could find in Afghanistan. Chinese companies have already expressed interest in investing in Afghanistan’s mining sector, and friendly relations with Kabul would pave the way for an expansion of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) into Afghanistan and through the Central Asian republics.

Among other goals, the BRI is meant to facilitate the extraction and shipping of poorer countries’ natural resources for Chinese benefit. “China’s policies show that China is very interested in Afghanistan’s mines,” said Mirza Muhammad Yarmand, a former deputy interior minister now in France.

“They are trying to get the contract and exploit Afghanistan’s mines because … the distance is very convenient and cost effective,” he said. In Yarmand’s view, Beijing knows better than to inject troops into Afghanistan. “There is no need for Chinese troops to come to Afghanistan, and if they do so, it will cause a major regional controversy and a conflict between the East and the West,” he said.

“The presence of Chinese troops is not acceptable to any Afghan because China has not made any contribution towards the stability, security or economic development of Afghanistan,” said Khaliqi, the university student. “China’s only goal in Afghanistan is to plunder our mines,” he said. “China’s military presence does not serve the national interest of Afghans but will complicate the situation and increase proxy wars in Afghanistan.”

8 Reasons Why People in Other Countries Think Americans Are Dumb (msn.com)

Remember September 11 2001 – Search Videos (bing.com)

September 11, 2001, is a day that remains deeply etched in the memories of many. On that day, 19 terrorists from the extremist group al-Qaeda hijacked four commercial airplanes and carried out coordinated attacks against the United States. Two planes were flown into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, causing both towers to collapse. A third plane hit the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and the fourth plane, United Airlines Flight 93, crashed into a field in Pennsylvania after passengers attempted to overcome the hijackers¹ ².

Nearly 3,000 people lost their lives in these attacks, and the events had a profound impact on the world, leading to significant changes in global security and foreign policy ³. It’s a day of remembrance and reflection for many, honoring the lives lost and the bravery of first responders and ordinary citizens who acted heroically.

How do you remember that day?

Learn more: 1history.com 2history.com 3bbc.com

4timeline.911memorial.org 5en.wikipedia.org

XANDRA, Gigi Grombacher – Body Say (Official Video)