August 18, 2021

Shenzhen, China – In the coming weeks and months, if not years, China will need to walk a tightrope related to economic and security engagements in Afghanistan or risk the fate other major powers have suffered by engaging in conflicts that drained them financially and at the cost of many lives.

China’s concerns over stability in the region and the potential for a security vacuum that emboldens militants there outweigh a desire to tap into Afghanistan’s mineral wealth and further advance regional infrastructure connections through the area in the near term.

The sudden takeover of the country by Taliban forces, two weeks before United States troops were meant to fully withdraw after nearly two decades of conflict there, has placed China in an uncertain position as it attempts to determine how to deal with its new neighbours in power in Kabul.

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