As I wrote recently, China is hopping into the recently-vacated “graveyard of empires” with astonishing haste. The last US helicopter had barely lifted off when China’s foreign minister was hosting the Taliban and preparing to sign a series of deals in order to get at Afghanistan’s valuable resources, especially a massive copper mine near Kabul.
But while China might — might — be able to strike a deal with the Taliban, it has no such hope with ISIS-K. The Islamic State-Khorasan is just the latest local hydra-head of an ISIS which, while it may be turfed out of its territory in the Middle-East, is very, very far from finished.
And, unlike the Taliban, it certainly isn’t about to overlook the fact that China is the world’s leading persecutor of Muslims.
So, it’s particularly ominous for China that an ISIS-K bombing in Afghanistan last month was explicitly linked to China: the bomber, ISIS claimed, was Uyghur, and the attack was punishment for the new Taliban government’s co-operation with China.
China has long lurked at the back of the global terrorist consciousness, happy to let the US bear the brunt of being the “Great Satan”. At the same time, China’s ludicrous claim to “developing nation” status allowed it to pose as the “oppressed” enemy of the terrorists’ enemy.
Not much longer, it seems.
Now, it’s undeniable that China is being targeted, especially as its footprint in Afghanistan grows. Beijing has long skirted around formal engagement in Afghanistan, and while it continues to do this to some degree, it has also been the most willing of the major powers in the region to engage with the Taliban directly. The Islamic State-Khorasan clearly sees the Taliban bowing to Beijing as a weak point to capitalise on, and the group’s message is clear: it is offering itself as a home to Uyghurs who are unhappy with the Taliban regime, as well as others in Afghanistan appalled at China’s treatment of Muslim minorities.
The Taliban have stated their desire to work with China — or at least, get their hands on Chinese cash. But in return, Beijing is demanding that the Taliban crack down on Uyghur militants in its ranks. To the extent that it does so (for instance, the Taliban are said to have moved Uyghurs in Afghanistan away from its border with China), the Taliban are making themselves a focus for ISIS-K.
It is this dynamic that the Islamic State-Khorasan capitalised on when it used a suicide bomber in the Kunduz attack with the battlefield name Muhammad al-Uighuri. In the message released by the Islamic State’s media channels claiming the attack, the group linked the attacker directly to the Taliban and China’s cooperation, stating, “the attacker was one of the Uyghur Muslims the Taliban has promised to deport in response to demands from China and its [China’s] policy against Muslims there”.
Crikey
Other threats to China in the region are growing. In Tajikistan, Pakistan, and Kyrgyzstan, a growing range of militants are targeting Chinese interests, including attacks on its embassies.
China is used to letting its regional catspaws, whether the Pakistani government or the Taliban, handle such threats for it. As these are less and less able or inclined to do, Beijing is having to send its own security forces in.
And so, China finds itself being dragged into the same quagmire as the US — and the Russians, British and many more before them. Including former Chinese rulers.
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