The meeting between the heads of state of China and Russia has become the focus of international attention recently, and even the Afghan Taliban is no exception. A few days ago, the Taliban leader openly stated that he would never allow anyone to set up military bases, and hoped to establish positive relations with neighboring, regional and other countries on the basis of common interests.
[Senior Taliban officials shouted to China and Russia to ask for money]
Obviously, these words were shouted to China and Russia from the air. The two previous major attacks on China and Russia were inextricably linked to the Taliban. The "Khorasan" group that terrorized the attack on Russia and Atta are both radical Sunnis in Afghanistan, and after Atta came to power, the organization still has frequent activities in Afghanistan; Bata, who launched terrorist attacks on Chinese companies, is two branches of the same faction as Atta, and some of the dozen or so terrorists arrested hold Afghan nationality.
Although Atta immediately expressed strong condemnation of the terrorists after the two incidents, and claimed that he had nothing to do with the terrorist organization, he also said that it was not easy to fight the terrorist organization and hoped that international organizations would work together to cooperate. When the Pakistani side repeatedly accused the Taliban of providing shelter to Bata, Atta also repeatedly refuted it. But judging from Atta's performance afterwards, this statement is obviously unconvincing.
According to Afghan media reports, the Atta Deputy Defense Minister recently met with the leaders of Bata, and according to sources, they discussed border management and Pakistani pressure on Bata. It is not difficult to guess from this meeting that Atta and Bata have always maintained contact and cooperation, and before that, there have been more than one news of meetings between the leaders of the two sides.
[Deputy Defense Minister Atta meets with leaders of Bata]
The trick of meeting and cooperating with the leaders of the terrorist organization as soon as he promised that he had nothing to do with the terrorist organization seemed to have minimized Atta's international credibility. Under such circumstances, against the backdrop of the meeting between the leaders of China and Russia, Atta once again expressed his hope to maintain friendly relations with his neighbors and would not allow anyone to take advantage of his statement, undoubtedly hoping to gain favorability in front of China and Russia.
We all know that for the Taliban, the support and assistance of China and Russia is very important:
On the one hand, Atta hopes that China and Russia can help him move towards the international community. As two major world powers, China and Russia have important influence and status in the international community, and if they can be officially recognized and supported by China and Russia, it will play a great role in promoting the identity of the Taliban as the legitimate regime in Afghanistan.
On the other hand, Afghanistan's reconstruction plan needs the support and assistance of China and Russia. After years of war, Afghanistan's socio-economic infrastructure has been severely damaged, and more than 70 per cent of the population still lives below the poverty line. At present, China has provided at least 200 million yuan in material aid to Afghanistan, which can alleviate some of the economic and humanitarian problems in the short term. In the longer term, economic and technical support from China and Russia, such as investing in infrastructure and funding public services such as education and health care, is extremely important for Afghanistan's economic reconstruction and social stability.
[China provides food aid to Afghanistan]
It should be added that the premise of China, Russia and other neighboring countries providing assistance to Atta is that Atta can fight terrorist organizations in accordance with its own commitments and ensure the security of neighboring countries and related projects. And this is clearly not something that the Atta government is willing to accept. This is also an important reason why Atta wants to reassure China and Russia.
However, after the assurance, Atta also put forward a demand: I hope that China and Russia can jointly speak out and get the money from Afghanistan back from the United States.
Immediately after the withdrawal of U.S.-led Western coalition forces from Afghanistan in August 2021, Washington froze $7 billion of funds deposited in U.S. accounts by Afghanistan's central bank; Another $2.5 billion in Afghanistan was also frozen with the help of US-controlled European credit institutions. For Afghanistan today, this is undoubtedly a very important "reconstruction fund".
[China has repeatedly spoken out for Afghanistan's asset freeze]
However, due to the influence of the United States in the international community, few countries will openly speak out for Afghanistan to collect debts, and even those that dare to speak out will not be able to influence the United States because of their lack of influence. China and Russia are different, as important two levels in the current multipolar world, if China and Russia can join hands to put pressure on the United States, a large number of countries will certainly speak out, and it is not impossible for the United States to relentlessly agree to return the Afghan funds under international pressure.
In fact, China has publicly spoken out for Afghanistan many times before, demanding that the United States pay back the money, but that was a choice that China took the initiative to make for the sake of the Afghan people.
If Atta really thinks about his own people, the most urgent task at present is to cooperate with China, Russia and the international community to intensify the crackdown on terrorist organizations.