China Analyzes Taliban's 'Victory' Cause... Government Forces Lose Morale Due to US Troop Withdrawal

Rapid Coverage of Taliban's Virtually Bloodless Entry into Kabul Highlights Afghan Issues
China Shows Interest in Belt and Road Reconstruction Projects... Leaves Room for Afghan Involvement

[Asia Economy Beijing=Special Correspondent Jo Young-shin] On the 15th (local time), China's state-run Xinhua News Agency reported on the 16th that the Islamic armed group Taliban had occupied Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, showing deep interest in the Afghan issue. Xinhua also added that Ashraf Ghani, the President of Afghanistan, had fled abroad.

Xinhua cited the social media of Abdullah Abdullah, Chairman of the Afghan High Council for National Reconciliation, to announce this. The media further reported that Chairman Abdullah referred to President Ghani as the "former president," and that the exact whereabouts of former President Ghani have not yet been confirmed.

Chinese media Pengpai analyzed the background of the Taliban's faster-than-expected occupation, noting that Kabul fell just 10 days after the Taliban took control of Zaranj, the capital of Nimroz, on the 6th.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

◆Why the Taliban's de facto bloodless entry = Pengpai, citing overseas media, reported that the Taliban entered the presidential palace in Kabul on the 15th and raised the Taliban flag. Pengpai stated that the Taliban occupied Kabul much faster than the international community expected, and there was little resistance from the Afghan government forces at the time.

In an interview with Pengpai, Zhu Yongbiao, Director of the Afghan Research Center at Lanzhou University, analyzed, "The U.S. troop withdrawal policy lowered the morale of the Afghan government forces," and "there was confusion among government forces about whether the Taliban were enemies or negotiation partners."

He added, "Unlike in the past, the Taliban adopted a moderate policy of no retaliation or punishment against Afghan residents and government forces," explaining that this broke the fighting spirit of the government forces.

Regarding the formation of the Afghan transitional government, Director Zhu predicted, "Since the government forces have been completely militarily defeated, they are not in a position to demand anything from the Taliban," and "even if a coalition government is formed, the Taliban will be the main party."

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

◆China's lingering involvement in Afghanistan = The state-run Global Times reported on the same day that although there are talks in the West about China possibly dispatching troops to Afghanistan to fill the void left by the U.S. military, this is merely baseless speculation.

The media cited experts saying that China will contribute to Afghanistan's reconstruction and development, with the Belt and Road Initiative being a representative reconstruction project.

China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Afghanistan share a partial border, which is known to be about 70 km long.

Because of this, there are suggestions that China could intervene in this area under the pretext of its own security. Additionally, Afghanistan is a neighboring country to Iran, which is at odds with the U.S. There is growing credibility to the view that China will build strategic partnerships with the Arab League, Iran, Afghanistan, and neighboring countries to expand its influence in the Middle East and Central Asia.

China has left room for the possibility of dispatching troops. The Global Times stated that the Taliban must sever ties with the "three evils"?terrorists, extremists, and separatists?and if Afghanistan becomes a hotbed for these three evils, the deployment of United Nations (UN) peacekeeping forces could be considered.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

◆China: The U.S. is an untrustworthy country = Chinese state media clearly held the U.S. responsible for the Taliban's occupation of Afghanistan. They argued that the withdrawal of U.S. troops could cause chaos not only in Afghanistan but also in the Middle East and Central Asia. They claimed that the U.S. interfered in Afghanistan's internal affairs and caused damage by supporting the Afghan government forces for 20 years under the pretext of the war on terror.

They also pointed out that the U.S. completely misjudged the situation. The Global Times, in an article titled "The Collapse of the Afghan Government Proves the U.S. Cannot Be Trusted," stated that due to the U.S.'s misjudgment, the world is witnessing a regime change in a war-torn country (Afghanistan).

The media emphasized that although the U.S. administration, including President Joe Biden, claims the collapse of the Afghan government is the responsibility of the Afghan people, it cannot hide the U.S.'s responsibility for the chaos in Afghanistan. They also mocked that the U.S. appeared more helpless than during the Vietnam War due to the collapse of the Afghan government, calling it more humiliating than the Soviet Union's defeat in Afghanistan.

Chinese netizens also criticized the U.S. on Weibo (China's version of Twitter), posting mocking comments such as "The 20-year war the U.S. fought in Afghanistan ended like a joke," "Those who deeply trusted the U.S. were discarded like trash," "U.S. soldiers died in vain, and the Taliban have returned," and "U.S. taxpayers only fattened American arms manufacturers."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.