Afghanistan: America bombs, China builds 阿富汗: 美國轟炸(破壞)中國建造 by Bradley Blankenship
Editor’s note: Bradley Blankenship is a Prague-based American journalist, political analyst and freelance reporter. The article reflects the author’s opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.
U.S. President Joe Biden recently defended the troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, saying that “the United States did what we went to do,” which he says was delivering justice to the perpetrators of 9/11 and to “degrade the terrorist threat” that Afghanistan poses. According to Biden, the U.S. achieved those objectives – and, moreover, the U.S. “did not go to Afghanistan to nation-build.”
Biden’s statement is merely a deflection from the fact that the U.S. actually had no clear plan in Afghanistan, though if anything suffered a humiliating defeat.
The lack of any clear plan is represented by the fact that objectives and priorities had constantly shifted through the war. For example, the fact that Osama bin Laden, the orchestrator of the 9/11 terrorist attack, was killed 10 years ago – and not even in Afghanistan, but in Pakistan. An account of the bin Laden operation by famous journalist Seymour Hersh actually shows unparalleled incompetence on the part of U.S. intelligence and special forces.
On top of this, while the U.S. had vowed to destroy the Taliban, which it had inadvertently helped usher into power beginning in the 1980s when it supported Islamic extremists fighting against the Soviet Union (including Osama bin Laden himself), the Taliban is anticipating a return to power.
It begs the question of what exactly the U.S. accomplished and the answer is, unsurprisingly, very little. As Biden admits, it certainly had nothing to do with nation-building, e.g., creating a stable political or economic situation in Afghanistan that could survive past the U.S. occupation.
This is certainly the rule and not the exception for America’s track record on foreign intervention because the U.S. and its myriad bureaucracies lack clear strategic aims, and if they do have them then often they contradict one another.
Perhaps then this is the most important implication of Biden’s speech: That any “foreign intervention” is “unwinnable” and reckless, as well as the fact that “nation-building” is impossible, because if the U.S. can’t do it then no one can. But is this actually true?
U.S. President Joe Biden leaves after an East Room event on troop withdrawal from Afghanistan at the White House in Washington, D.C., July 8, 2021.
It’s quite an important point since China is now looking for ways to help fill the vacuum left by the United States. This week, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will be visiting Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, as well as attending a meeting of the foreign ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a Eurasian regional security pact, and the SCO-Afghanistan contact group.
Some commentators are already spinning propaganda webs about what Chinese aid might look like, falsely saying any Chinese “intervention” is somehow qualitatively similar to whatever it was the U.S. was doing in Afghanistan for two decades.
For starters, no one is talking about Chinese troops occupying Afghanistan in the absence of American troops, which is the clear implication of some commentators. What they’re trying to do instead is perpetuate the myth of “Chinese imperialism,” which is the idea that China’s cooperation in developing nations is predatory, and then equate this to actual Western imperialism, which has been responsible for countless genocides and wars, on top of centuries of exploitation.
China’s intentions in Afghanistan are clear: Beijing wants to help Afghanistan rebuild, integrate into the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and join into a connected future in Eurasia – all with no political strings attached. That’s because this is already a win-win situation for both China, Afghanistan, the region and the entire world.
As the most important political and economic power in the region, China is logically positioned to help Afghanistan transition from U.S. occupation. At the same time, China understands through lived experience that economic investment that creates sustainable opportunities for people on the ground is important for peace and prosperity. A safe and prosperous Afghanistan that is not a playground for international terror networks would benefit everyone.
Already, the clarity (and simplicity) of such a plan stands far and away from America’s misdeeds in Afghanistan. Plus there’s also the obvious qualitative difference between Washington literally bombing a country for two decades and, on the other hand, Beijing helping Kabul join the most ambitious global infrastructure plan in history. To put it simply, China will not be the next empire to die in Afghanistan.
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Native Americans Deni Leonard in San Francisco: So many foreign policy mistakes by Presidents from both parties. We have a psychopathic leadership that seeks hegemony at all costs. The American Indian Indigenous Tribes have been Interned on Indian Reservations for 160 years with no fiscal, economic, public policy healthcare or educational solutions. We remained in poverty until our Sovereign Rights to Self Government resulted in developing the gaming business creating more capital in one year equal to almost 50 years of U.S. fiscal support.
There was no political power, however, now, a Multi-Ethnic Coalition can began to make Political Change in this decade. Together, reaching out to each other, we can make that change.
Professor John Walsh in San Francisco: The US policy in the Middle East was definitely a failure for the US Imperial Elite. It kept them tied down there and delayed giving their full “attention” to China, now in the crosshairs. But it still remains stuck to that Middle East tarbaby.
BUT it was a great help to China -and Russia -since it distracted the Empire from focusing on China.
With all the damage done and more of its enemies left in ruins, the long US distraction was a great boon to Israel. And of course Israel calls the shots for a great deal of US foreign policy – certainly in the Middle East and North Africa.
This is one illustration of the damage that can be done to a nation’s interests, even evil ones as in the case of the US Empire, by foreign alliances which the Founders called “entangling alliances” and warned against.
The US faces the same problem with Taiwan which can move opinion in the US so that the US govt is pushed into dangerous positions. This will be remedied when Taiwan Province formally rejoins China.
Johnson Choi Biz 