China is already negotiating political support for the Taliban to increase their strategic activities in Afghanistan

Great staging at the Chinese Foreign Ministry to seal a pact with the Taliban in Afghanistan. In a magnificent room decorated with a huge fresco of classical Tang Dynasty painting, sparkling white marble and red flowers, the Wang Yi canceller received the representative of bearded Islamist extremists, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar. China wants to fill the void left by the United States with its withdrawal after 20 years of occupation and war, make sure the Taliban will not support the Uyghur Muslim minority and become a great business partner with fabulous mineral reserves. The Afghans, who already had very good relations with the Chinese when they were in power in Kabul between 1996 and 2001, are seeking international diplomatic support and investment for reconstruction.

There were two days of talks this week in Tianjin, the coastal city in northeast China, and the strongest diplomatic honor the Taliban has ever received. In the statement, the Beijing government assured that the Afghan guerrillas “will play an important role in the process of peaceful reconciliation and reconstruction” of their country. And Foreign Minister Wang called on the Taliban “Fundamental military and political force”, but he urged its leaders to “carry the flag of the peace talks high.”

The Taliban already control more than 50% of Afghan territory, including the strategic provinces of Kandahar and Badakhshan, through which passes the Wakhan border corridor which connects the two countries and which serves as a rearguard for Chinese Islamists. “The delegation assured China that it will not allow anyone to use Afghan territory to attack that country.”Taliban spokesman Mohammed Naeem told Reuters. This means that the Afghans agree not to allow the Islamic Movement of East Turkestan (ETIM), the radical Uyghur group that China accuses of having committed terrorist acts to obtain the independence of the Xinjiang region, takes refuge in this region. The Chinese statement says the ETIM poses a “direct threat to China’s national security.”

Since US troops left the strategic base in Bagram on July 1, the Taliban have launched the offensive to regain power in Kabul from the start. a diplomatic tour with visits to Tehran, Moscow and the capital of Turkmenistan, Ashgabat. The final touch was made in China. There had been lower rank meetings before, but not at such a high level and in such a public manner. This meeting shows how the former Afghan leaders, overthrown by the United States 20 years ago after the attacks of September 11 and who gave refuge to the terrorist network of Al-Qaeda, succeeded in reshaping the way in which the international powers deal with them or they. Chinese diplomats, very attentive to forms, showed special affection for the Taliban which contrasted with the icy reception that had been extended in Tianjin two days earlier to Wendy Sherman, the US Under Secretary of State.

China has long tried to play a broader diplomatic role in Afghanistan and now, with the withdrawal of NATO forces, it is finding the space to do so. President Xi Jinping spoke by phone with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on July 16, also urging his government to find a solution “led by the Afghans and with Afghan sovereignty”. Beijing would prefer an agreement to be reached between the current pro-Western government and the Taliban to prevent another war. Barnett R. Rubin, UN adviser on Afghanistan, told the New York Times he saw the meeting “more than support for the Taliban, an effort to use Chinese influence to persuade the Taliban not to seek military victory, but seriously negotiate an inclusive political agreement ”.

China also has other interests to protect in Afghanistan. It has considerable mining investments in this country, notably a $ 3 billion contract to develop the Aynak copper mine. In recent months, most of this work has come to a standstill due to political-military instability. And he wants to protect his fellow citizens who are working on these projects. Earlier this month, a bus was attacked on the border with Pakistan and nine Chinese engineers died who were working on the construction of a dam.

For its part, China wishes to integrate Afghanistan into its initiative to New Silk Roads, the gigantic network of infrastructures with which it seeks to connect with the rest of the world. Chinese engineers are already building a highway between Peshawar, on the Pakistani border, and Kandahar, in the south, which could link Kabul to the flagship project of the initiative, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and open a land access route to markets such as Iran, Turkestan, Uzbekistan and other Central Asian countries. Beijing maintains diplomat Yue Xiaoyong in Kabul who oversees all work and privileged relations with the government and the radicalized Afghan opposition. And Foreign Minister Wang visited Tajikistan two weeks ago to attend a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a regional security cooperation forum, and try to unite positions on Afghanistan with the rest of the countries in the region.

Of course, nothing will be easy. While the US military withdrawal accelerates as well as the advance of the Taliban on Kabul, which according to military analysts could fall into the hands of the Islamists before the end of the year, the whole region remains on high alert. President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon ordered the mobilization of 20,000 reservists strengthen the border with the Afghan province of Badakhshan, 910 kilometers long, crossed daily by Afghan soldiers fleeing the Taliban offensive. For their part, and due to the escalation of violence, Russia and Turkey have closed their consulates in Mazar-e-Sharif, capital of Balkh province and the country’s fourth largest city. Taliban force of 60,000 to 80,000 militiamen overwhelm more than 300,000 Afghan army. Since May, Islamists, the ethnic majority of Pashtuns, have captured 80 of Afghanistan’s 421 districts and fenced off several provincial capitals.

In the Washington Post, Omar Zakhilwal, former Afghan finance minister, described the atmosphere in the capital of “Chaotic and on the verge of panic.” There are constant attacks. Two months ago, nearly 70 girls died in a suicide bombing attack on a school in the capital. In Kunduz, half a thousand Islamists defeated 3,000 Afghan soldiers and police, who surrendered almost without a fight. In Helmand, some 1,800 Taliban prompted 4,500 other soldiers to flee, who in two days abandoned the defensive positions. In the cities of Kandahar and Jalalabad, Afghan security forces laid down their arms after running out of ammunition and supplies. The fleeing troops abandon their vehicles, armor and weapons, which the taliban later display as war trophies in videos that are downloaded from the Internet.

Meanwhile, the “warlords” – figures who control power over small territories – of the Hazara, Tajik and Uzbek ethnic groups they rearm their militias, creating the conditions for a new anarchic and prolonged civil war that could attract jihadists from all over the world. This would revert to the conditions of November 2001, when the US and NATO intervention began. But the chances of President Joe Biden delaying the departure of troops – as the Senate Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has asked him – are slim. Biden has already made it clear that his decision “There is no going back.” It is in this context that China seeks to fill the void left by the West and cultivates relations with the Taliban.

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