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* Con Coughlin: Biden's Betrayal of Afghanistan
* Judith Bergman: Will Communist China Dominate the Middle East?


** Biden's Betrayal of Afghanistan ([link removed])
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by Con Coughlin • April 26, 2021 at 5:00 am
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* [U]nder the terms of the Doha deal former US President Donald Trump negotiated with the Taliban in the Gulf state of Qatar last February, the withdrawal of US forces was contingent on the Taliban renouncing violence, as well as ending its long-standing support for Islamist terror groups like al-Qaeda.
* [A]s a recent US Treasury report has concluded, the Taliban has maintained its links with al-Qaeda, as well as other Islamist terrorist organisations. The report stated that al-Qaeda is "gaining strength in Afghanistan while continuing to operate with the Taliban under the Taliban's protection." It adds that the group "capitalizes on its relationship with the Taliban through its network of mentors and advisers who are embedded with the Taliban, providing advice, guidance, and financial support."
* Now the Taliban has responded to Mr Biden's overly generous offer to withdraw all US forces by September -- in spite of the Taliban's abject failure to honour their side of the bargain -- by threatening to launch a fresh offensive against the US and its Nato allies.
* Speaking shortly after the President made his announcement, a senior Taliban commander warned, "We are prepared and already present in the battlefield; our fighters are ready to target Nato troops as the trust deficit widens after Biden delayed US troops' withdrawal."
* Despite these devastating setbacks, the Taliban has been quietly confident that it would ultimately prevail, ever since former US President Barack Obama made his disastrous U-turn in Washington's Afghan policy in 2009, and made his unilateral announcement that he was withdrawing all remaining American combat troops by the end of 2014.
* Taliban leaders have always argued that, in keeping with previous generations of foreign invaders, Washington would eventually lose interest in the conflict and withdraw.
* [A]s the Taliban's attitude has revealed, the terror group has no serious interest in concluding a peace deal with Kabul, preferring to resort to its previous tactic of seizing control of the country through violence and intimidation.
* Certainly, as a recent Pentagon report has highlighted, without the support of US and other Nato allies, the Afghan government has little chance of prevailing against the Taliban once the withdrawal has completed.
* John Sopko, the Pentagon's special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction, last month warned that, without US support, the Afghan government "probably would face collapse."
* The only realistic outcome is that, once the Taliban have retaken control of the country and implemented its brand of medieval religious authoritarianism, al-Qaeda will re-establish its terror bases in the country and use them as a base to launch a fresh wave of attacks against the West.

As the Taliban's attitude has revealed, the terror group has no serious interest in concluding a peace deal with Kabul, preferring to resort to its previous tactic of seizing control of the country through violence and intimidation. Pictured: Afghan National Army soldiers register Taliban prisoners for release from Bagram Prison, near Kabul on May 26, 2020, as part of a ceasefire agreement. (Photo by Wakil Kohsar/AFP via Getty Images)

The only logical conclusion to be drawn from US President Joe Biden's ill-judged decision to withdraw the last remaining US troops from Afghanistan is that it will lead to the Taliban and their al-Qaeda allies once more seizing control of the country.

That is certainly how the Taliban leadership is viewing the Biden administration's decision, as within hours of Mr Biden making his televised appearance to announce the withdrawal, the Taliban was claiming victory in the country's long-running civil war.

More than that, the Taliban even had the nerve to claim that, by completing the withdrawal of US forces by September 11, Washington was reneging on the peace deal negotiated with the previous Trump administration last year, which stipulated that all American troops, together with other Nato forces, would be withdrawn by the end of next month.

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** Will Communist China Dominate the Middle East? ([link removed])
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by Judith Bergman • April 26, 2021 at 4:00 am
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* "The connection between the BRI and the strategic partnerships it creates in the region... allows it to gradually take over the region without creating tensions with the U.S. or the West. In other words, the BRI is a sophisticated Chinese plan to transfer hegemony from the West and the U.S. to China without war or conflict". — Dr. Mordechai Chaziz, author of the book China's Middle East Diplomacy: The Belt and Road Strategic Partnership.
* "China has signed documents on Belt and Road cooperation with 19 Middle East countries," Wang told Al Arabiya during his visit to Saudi Arabia, one of the six countries he visited on his tour, "and carried out distinctive collaboration with each of them.... China is ready to .... expand new areas of growth such as high and new technologies." The other countries Wang visited were Turkey, Iran, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman and Bahrain.
* "In the last five years, as China has grown increasingly concerned with transit through the Suez Canal, China has invested billions of dollars in Egypt.... President Sisi has made at least six trips to Beijing since taking office in 2014, compared to just two trips to Washington". — Jon B. Alterman, Center for Strategic and International Studies, May 23, 2021.
* China has made "comprehensive strategic partnerships" with both Saudi Arabia and UAE, as well as now Iran, through signing a 25-year comprehensive strategic agreement on economic and security cooperation with Tehran. The agreement also reportedly includes an expansion of military assistance, training and intelligence-sharing.
* "China and the countries agreed that the sovereign independence and national dignity of all countries should be respected..." Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in summing up his trip. Meanwhile Wang overlooked the fact that China had originally offered the world similar assurances in 1984 regarding the retention of Hong Kong's political and economic system for 50 years after the 1997 return of the territory to Mainland China's sovereignty, only to renege on this commitment 27 years ahead of the scheduled end of the "one country, two systems" arrangement in 2047.
* Wang also managed to overlook that China broke its 2015 commitment not to "militarize" artificial islands that Beijing had been building in the Spratly Islands chain in the South China Sea and which it is now surrounding with "fishing boats", threatening the nearby Philippines. The foreign minister also apparently forgot that China has never honored at least nine of the commitments it made when it joined the World Trade Organization, its nuclear testing commitments and its commitment to the Vatican in appointing bishops.
* "China's communist leaders have repeatedly promised major reforms or policy shifts to gain entrance into international agreements only to roll back those reforms as soon as they get what they want." — Chris Tomlinson, business columnist, Houston Chronicle, 2016.

As China vies for more international influence to become the world's greatest power by 2049 -- militarily, economically, technologically and politically -- the Middle East is likely to become crucial, whether the US prioritizes it or not. Pictured: Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (left) and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif at the signing ceremony for Iran and China's "25-year strategic cooperation pact," on March 27, 2021 in Tehran. (Photo by AFP via Getty Images)

After Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi's almost week-long recent tour of the Middle East, there can be little doubt that China is actively seeking to expand its influence in the region, not only economically but also militarily, diplomatically and politically, actively challenging the long-standing role of the United States as a dominant power in the region.

China's influence in the Middle East has been growing for years, especially through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a gigantic global infrastructure and economic development project that Chinese President Xi Jinping launched in 2013. Its aim is, it appears, to build an economic and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe, Africa and beyond. This mega development and investment initiative seeks dramatically to enhance China's global influence from East Asia to Europe by making countries worldwide increasingly dependent on China.

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