The Afghanistan Puzzle: America Moved Out; China Is Moving In

America’s sudden drawdown in Afghanistan, capped by a literal middle-of-the-night departure, left a huge military, economic, and diplomatic vacuum in its wake. In a move that surprised no one, China is now rushing in to fill it.

It’s not puzzling why this is occurring; China shares a border–albeit a small one–with Afghanistan, and the Chinese Communist Party is racing to extend its influence (and to counter that of the U.S.) across the globe. There are also untold mineral riches in Afghanistan, which China is eager to exploit, to the benefit of both nations.

…and Afghanistan’s current leaders, the Taliban, are more than happy to have China’s help. Having forced the American-led coalition out of Afghanistan, the Taliban and their Pakistani backers are now faced with the daunting task of governing, and by all accounts, are doing it poorly. As winter grips the war-ravaged and economically-studded country, Afghanistan’s current rulers have resorted to begging the rest of the world for handouts.

And who knows? With China’s famous strategic patience, their economic clout, and their utter contempt for concepts like human rights and the entire “woke” agenda, maybe they will succeed where the Americans, the Russians, the British, the Indians, the Greeks, and so many others have failed

But I hope that they don’t. The Taliban and Communist China? Yeah, that’s a puzzle we don’t need to see come together.

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Scott Faith is a veteran of a half-dozen combat deployments and has served in several different Special Operations units over the course of his Army career. Scott’s writing focuses largely on veterans’ issues, but he is also a big proponent of Constitutional rights and has a deep interest in politics. He often allows other veterans who request anonymity to publish their work under his byline. Scott welcomes story ideas and feedback on his articles and can be reached at havokjournal@havokmedia.com.