Afghanistan? Really China? Good Luck With That

Everyone things they can influence events in Afghanistan, but sooner or later you learn that it also influcences events in your own nation.

Russia knows this, Great Britain knows this, and now we know this.

China should take note.

As the U.S. seeks an exit from the Afghan war, Central Asia is on the cusp of a new era, with Russia and China vying for influence in a region that will no longer be dominated by America’s post-9/11 undertaking to bring peace and stability to Afghanistan.

The two countries are wary of Islamist militancy, both on their soil and spilling over from Afghanistan, while China wants to safeguard the billions of dollars its companies have invested in the region under President Xi Jinping’s Belt-and-Road Initiative...