China’s turn to visit “the graveyard of empires”?<\/p>\n
China may send peacekeeping force to Afghanistan after US troops leave, observers say<\/a><\/p>\n Beijing may consider sending a peacekeeping force to Afghanistan if the security situation in the South Asian country poses a threat to the neighbouring Chinese province of Xinjiang after American troops pull out, analysts said. While Beijing would not station troops in Afghanistan, it might work with other countries in the region to promote political stability and reduce the security risk to China, Sun said. Soon after Biden\u2019s announcement, Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance planned to withdraw its troops \u2013 about 7,000 \u2013 from Afghanistan by next month. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Thursday that Australia would also complete its military withdrawal from Afghanistan in September. China’s turn to visit “the graveyard of empires”? China may send peacekeeping force to Afghanistan after US troops leave, observers say Beijing may consider sending a peacekeeping force to Afghanistan if the security situation in the South Asian country poses a threat to the neighbouring Chinese province of Xinjiang after American troops pull out, analysts … Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,82],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-crap-for-brains","category-the-more-things-change"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=67008"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67008\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67009,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67008\/revisions\/67009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=67008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=67008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=67008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nUS President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that he would withdraw all remaining US troops \u2013 about 2,500 \u2013 from Afghanistan by September 11, the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attack in New York.
\nThe withdrawal may pose a threat to Afghanistan\u2019s security and stability, which could spill over into Xinjiang and disrupt China\u2019s counterterrorism efforts.
\nIn 2018, China trained Afghan troops and helped set up a mountain brigade. The training took place in China and the aim of the brigade was to counter possible attacks by al-Qaeda and Islamic State.
\n\u201cThe security forces of the Afghan government are not capable of ensuring Afghan security,\u201d said Sun Qi, an international relations specialist at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.
\n\u201cThe situation in Afghanistan might go further into chaos in the future. Cross-border crime, drug trafficking and smuggling of firearms may proliferate,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cIf the security situation poses a significant threat, China may send peacekeeping troops along with humanitarian assistance to the region under the terms of the Charter of the United Nations to ensure the safety and interests of Chinese people and companies there,\u201d he said.
\nChinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Thursday that foreign troops stationed in Afghanistan should withdraw in a \u201cresponsible and orderly manner\u201d to prevent terrorist forces from taking advantage of the chaos.
\n\u201cThe United States is the biggest external factor affecting the Afghan issue. The relevant decisions and actions of the United States should fully respect the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Afghanistan, earnestly take responsibility for maintaining the results of peace and reconstruction in Afghanistan,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\nOther experts said China was unlikely to push too hard to gain influence in Afghanistan as there was already fierce competition in the region.
\n\u201cA number of countries, including Pakistan, India and Russia, want to exert their influence in the region, so China really needs to be careful of getting involved in the chaos,\u201d said Wang Jin, a research fellow at the Charhar Institute think tank in northern China.
\nAll remaining US troops in Afghanistan will return home by September 11, the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attack in New York. Photo: AFP
\nAll remaining US troops in Afghanistan will return home by September 11, the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attack in New York. Photo: AFP
\nChina and the US were unlikely to engage in any significant cooperation in Afghanistan after the US troop withdrawal, given the tensions between the two countries, he said.
\n\u201cWe can see from the withdrawal of US troops that the willingness of the US to intervene in Afghanistan\u2019s affairs is declining,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cPrimarily because the idea of solving local conflicts by establishing a Western-style democracy in Afghanistan has failed.\u201d
\nSun said the US was likely to withdraw its military deployments from Central Asia and redeploy them to the Asia-Pacific.
\n\u201cThe withdrawal from Afghanistan allows the US to boost its military presence in Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean regions, with the aim of containing China,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cThe US is highly likely to increase its military activity in the South China Sea and China-Indochina peninsula.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"