http://ww25.sea.wreia.us/caspian-sea-countries-map/?subid1=20201022-1519-040a-a97f-e826f766c3b3https://sofrep.com/news/chinese-taliban-partnership/THE CHINESE & TALIBAN PARTNERSHIP NOBODY IS TALKING ABOUT UNTIL NOW
VSO are one of several national priority efforts currently conducted by joint/combined SOF teams in rural village areas across Afghanistan in support of the International Security Assistance Force’s, or ISAF’s, comprehensive campaign of counterinsurgency, or COIN. The ultimate goal of the COIN campaign is to foster an enduring stability for the people of Afghanistan. Performing what are commonly described as “bottom-up” stability efforts….so says big Army.
The Chinese Taliban Partnership
VSO is a losing strategy if the U.S. is not invested in Afghanistan for the long haul and we all know that we’re only building houses of cards. Current VSO operations in theater will only provide temporary shelter from a Chinese storm that is sweeping across the Afghanistan nation, and squeezing the land of every available natural resource. China doesn’t give a fuck if the TB (Taliban) is in charge, just as long as they look the other way once they’re on the take; the TB will want their cut of course. This will happen as soon as the U.S. pulls out and it’s back to burkas as usual.
Ever heard of the Trans Afghan pipeline?
A friend of mine going to Afghanistan soon says….
“Guys like you and me can see the real future if China taps that 1Trillion worth of resources (God knows that they need them…). China will not give two shits if AFG returns to a complete safe haven for every terrorist faction on the globe that hates the USA. In fact, an unstable AFG is better for what they are hoping to accomplish. They may even promote that shit just to keep us on our toes knowing that there is no way in hell we would return. They are a very strategic “chess playing” country. Pricks.”-Anonymous US SOCOM Operator
Special Operations units will be the last line of defense in Afghanistan
Read Next: Special Operations units will be the last line of defense in Afghanistan
Score: China 1 America 0.
China’s Afghan Game Plan
In his latest book, On China, Henry Kissinger uses the traditional intellectual games favored by China and the West – weiqi and chess – as a way to reveal their differing attitudes toward international power politics. Chess is about total victory, a Clausewitzian battle for the “center of gravity” and the eventual elimination of the enemy, whereas weiqi is a quest for relative advantage through a strategy of encirclement that avoids direct conflict.
This cultural contrast is a useful guide to the way that China manages its current competition with the West. China’s Afghan policy is a case in point, but it also is a formidable challenge to the weiqi way. As the United States prepares to withdraw its troops from the country, China must deal with an uncertain post-war scenario.
Afghanistan is of vital strategic interest to China, yet it never crossed its leaders’ minds to defend those interests through war. A vital security zone to China’s west, Afghanistan is also an important corridor through which it can secure its interests in Pakistan (a traditional ally in China’s competition with India), and ensure its access to vital natural resources in the region. Moreover, China’s already restless Muslim-majority province of Xinjiang, which borders on Afghanistan, might be dangerously affected by a Taliban takeover there, or by the country’s dismemberment.
The US fought its longest-ever war in Afghanistan, at a cost (so far) of more than $555 billion, not to mention tens of thousands of Afghan civilian casualties and close to 3,100 US troops killed. But China’s strategy in the country was mostly focused on business development, and on satiating its vast appetite for energy and minerals. The US Defense Department has valued Afghanistan’s untapped mineral deposits at $1 trillion. But it is China that is now poised to exploit much of these resources.