{"id":2552,"date":"2021-08-25T00:44:16","date_gmt":"2021-08-25T00:44:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbmv.com\/blog\/?p=2552"},"modified":"2021-08-25T00:44:16","modified_gmt":"2021-08-25T00:44:16","slug":"china-russia-are-stage-managing-the-taliban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pbmv.com\/blog\/?p=2552","title":{"rendered":"China, Russia Are Stage-Managing The Taliban"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Pepe Escobar<\/a><\/p>\n

Beijing, Moscow are working overtime to scrub the Taliban’s ‘terrorist’ label and endorse it as a legitimate political movement<\/i><\/b>\"taliban_fighters.jpg\"Taliban fighters drive an Afghan National Army vehicle through the streets of Laghman province on August 15, 2021<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

The first Taliban press conference<\/a> after last weekend\u2019s Saigon moment geopolitical earthquake, conducted by spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, was in itself a game-changer.<\/p>\n

The contrast could not be starker with those rambling pressers at the Taliban embassy in Islamabad after 9\/11 and before the start of the American bombing \u2013 proving this incarnation of the Taliban is an entirely new political animal.<\/p>\n

Yet some things never change. English translations remain atrocious. Here<\/a> is a good summary of the key Taliban statements. These are the key takeaways:<\/p>\n

\u2013 No problem for women to get an education all the way to college and to continue to work. They just need to wear the hijab, like in Qatar or Iran. No need to wear a burqa. The Taliban insist \u201call women\u2019s rights will be guaranteed within the limits of Islamic law.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013 The Islamic Emirate \u201cdoes not threaten anyone\u201d and will not treat anyone as enemies. Crucially, revenge \u2013 an essential plank of the Pashtunwali code \u2013 will be abandoned, and that\u2019s unprecedented. There will be a general amnesty, including people who worked for the former NATO-aligned system. Translators, for instance, won\u2019t be harassed and don\u2019t need to leave the country.<\/p>\n

\u2013 The security of foreign embassies and international organizations \u201cis a priority.\u201d Taliban special security forces will protect both those leaving Afghanistan and those who remain.<\/p>\n

\u2013 A strong inclusive Islamic government will be formed. \u201cInclusive\u201d is code for the participation of women and Shiites.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Foreign media will continue to work undisturbed. The Taliban government will allow public criticism and debate. But \u201cfreedom of speech in Afghanistan must be in line with Islamic values.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013 The Islamic Emirate of Taliban wants recognition from the \u201cinternational community\u201d \u2013 code for NATO. The overwhelming majority of Eurasia and the Global South will recognize it anyway.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s essential to note, for example, the closer integration of the expanding Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) \u2013 Iran is about to become a full member, Afghanistan is an observer \u2013 with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).<\/p>\n

The absolute majority of Asia will not shun the Taliban.<\/p>\n

For the record, the Taliban also stated that it took all of Afghanistan in only 11 days: that\u2019s pretty accurate. They stressed \u201cvery good relations with Pakistan, Russia and China.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet the Taliban don\u2019t have formal allies and are not part of any military-political bloc. They definitely \u201cwon\u2019t allow Afghanistan to become a safe haven for international terrorists.\u201d That\u2019s code for ISIS\/Daesh.<\/p>\n

On the key issue of opium and heroin, the Taliban say they will ban its production.<\/p>\n

As eyebrow-raising as these statements may be, the Taliban did not even get into detail on economic and infrastructure development deals \u2013 as they will need a lot of new industries, new jobs and improved Eurasian-wide trade relations. That will likely be announced later.<\/p>\n

What this first press conference reveals is how the Taliban are fast-absorbing essential PR and media lessons from Moscow and Beijing, emphasizing ethnic harmony, the role of women, the role of diplomacy and deftly defusing in a single move all the hysteria raging across NATOstan.<\/p>\n

The next bombshell step in the PR wars will be to cut off the lethal, evidence-free Taliban-9\/11 connection; thereafter the \u201cterrorist organization\u201d label will disappear and the Taliban as a political movement will be fully legitimized.<\/p>\n

Moscow and Beijing are meticulously stage-managing the Taliban\u2019s reinsertion in regional and global geopolitics. This means that the SCO is stage-managing the whole process: Russia and China are applying consensual decisions that have been taken in SCO meetings.<\/p>\n

The key player the Taliban are talking to is Zamir Kabulov, Russia\u2019s special presidential envoy for Afghanistan. In yet another debunking of the NATOstan narrative, Kabulov confirmed, for instance, \u201cwe see no direct threat to our allies in Central Asia. There are no facts proving otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Beltway will be stunned to learn that Zabulov has also revealed: \u201cwe have long been in talks with the Taliban on the prospects for development after their capture of power and they have repeatedly confirmed that they have no extraterritorial ambition, they learned the lessons of 2000.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zabulov reveals plenty of nuggets<\/a> when it comes to Taliban diplomacy: \u201cIf we compare the negotiability of colleagues and partners, the Taliban have long seemed to me much more negotiable than the puppet Kabul government. We proceed from the premise that the agreements must be implemented. So far, with regard to the security of the embassy and the security of our allies in Central Asia, the Taliban have respected the agreements.\u201d<\/p>\n

These contacts were established \u201cover the past seven years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Faithful to its adherence to international law, and not the \u201crules-based international order,\u201d Moscow is always keen to emphasize the responsibility of the UN Security Council: \u201cWe must make sure that the new government is ready to behave conditionally, as we say, in a civilized manner. That\u2019s when this point of view becomes common to all, then the procedure [of removing the qualification of the Taliban as a terrorist organization] will begin.\u201d<\/p>\n

So while the US\/EU\/NATO flee Kabul in spasms of self-inflicted panic, Moscow is practicing diplomacy. Zabulov adds: \u201cThat we have prepared the ground for a conversation with the new government in Afghanistan in advance is an asset of Russian foreign policy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Dmitry Zhirnov, Russia\u2019s ambassador to Afghanistan, is working overtime with the Taliban including a meeting with a senior Taliban security official on Tuesday. The meeting was \u201cpositive, constructive \u2026 The Taliban movement has the most friendly; the best policy towards Russia \u2026 He arrived alone in one vehicle, with no guards.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both Moscow and Beijing have no illusions that the West is already deploying hybrid war tactics to discredit and destabilize a government that isn\u2019t even formed yet and hasn\u2019t even started working. No wonder Chinese media is describing Washington as a \u201cstrategic rogue.\u201d<\/p>\n

What matters is that Russia and China are way ahead of the curve, cultivating parallel inside tracks of diplomatic dialogue with the Taliban. It\u2019s crucial to remember that Russia harbors 20 million Muslims and China at least 35 million. These will be called to support the immense project of Afghan reconstruction and full Eurasia reintegration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Pepe Escobar Beijing, Moscow are working overtime to scrub the Taliban’s ‘terrorist’ label and endorse it as a legitimate political movementTaliban fighters drive an Afghan National Army vehicle through the streets of Laghman province on August 15, 2021 The first Taliban press conference after last weekend\u2019s Saigon moment geopolitical earthquake, conducted by spokesman Zabihullah […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbmv.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbmv.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbmv.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbmv.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbmv.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2552"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbmv.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2553,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbmv.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2552\/revisions\/2553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbmv.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbmv.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbmv.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}