How Afghanistan Has Become Another Notch in China’s Belt

Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang meets with Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari in Islamabad, Pakistan, May 6, 2023. (Photo by Jiang Chao/Xinhua/Getty Images)

More than a year after the Biden administration’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, it’s now becoming clear who is poised to be the big winner of America’s longest war, besides the Taliban. 

It’s China.  

Last week Beijing took the decisive steps that will make the Taliban its strategic partner in Xi Jinping’s push for global hegemony, via the vast China-led global infrastructure project known as the Belt and Road Initiative.

China’s impending success, and America’s abject failure, in Afghanistan is both infuriating and enlightening. It should force us to take a hard look at how America conducts itself with friends and enemies alike, especially when it comes to how we use our military force. 

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