U.S. (Washington Insider Magazine) -Secretary of State Antony Blinken initiated a dialogue with his counterparts in China and Russia in response to the developing security situation in Afghanistan. On Aug. 17, he spoke separately with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the situation in Afghanistan and efforts to safely evacuate Chinese and U.S. citizens who remain in Afghanistan, according to a State Department news release.
China, Russia, and Pakistan are the only three countries reportedly that still have fully-operating embassies in Kabul, the capital of the war-stiffen country where the Islamist extremist group regained power after 20 years.
U.S. President Joe Biden justified the United States’ military drawdown in an address at the White House on Aug. 16, acknowledging that the withdrawal was “messy” but saying that he stood by the decision to end U.S. involvement in the war.
“The Biden administration’s short timetable for withdrawal, tied to the 20th anniversary of 9/11, and in the middle of the fighting season, was a mistake. But the situation on the ground is the result of two decades of miscalculations and failed policies pursued by three prior U.S. administrations and of the failure of Afghanistan’s leaders to govern for the good of their people,” former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan P. Michael McKinley wrote in U.S.-based Foreign Affairs.
Blinken held similar talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov. He discussed U.S. evacuation efforts for Americans and Afghans wishing to flee amid an amid the Taliban’s takeover of the country, following a U.S. withdrawal from the country.
Beijing and Moscow have expressed interest in working with the Taliban after they seized Kabul on Aug. 15.
Russian Ambassador to Afghanistan Dmitry Zhirnov commented on the situation in an interview with Moscow’s Ekho Moskvy radio station.
“The situation is peaceful and good and everything has calmed down in the city. The situation in Kabul now under the Taliban is better than it was under [self-exiled President] Ashraf Ghani,” said Zhirnov, as reported by Euractiv.
The Russian Embassy in Britain tweeted that “the objective reality is that Washington’s comfortable position of U.S. hegemony is receding into the past against the backdrop of the strengthening political positions of Russia and China.”
Meanwhile, Russia has been in contact with the Taliban via its embassy in Kabul. “It went absolutely calmly and without incident. They [the Taliban] came and took it [the embassy] under guard,” embassy representative Zamir Kabulov told Reuters
China has expressed similar interest in expanding its “friendly and cooperative” relations with the Taliban, according to a government spokesperson. China shares a 46-mile border with Afghanistan and has feared that it may be used as a staging area for Uyghur separatists in the border region of Xinjiang.
Last month, a Taliban delegation met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. In return for Afghanistan not being used as a staging area for militants, Yi promised economic support for the country.
Government spokeswoman Hua Chunying echoed this sentiment in a statement to reporters, according to France24.
“The Taliban have repeatedly expressed their hope to develop good relations with China, and that they look forward to China’s participation in the reconstruction and development of Afghanistan,” she said.
Analysts say Beijing sees a stable relationship with the Taliban as being crucial to its Belt and Road Initiative, which is set to be expanded upon through Afghanistan and the Central Asian republics.