{"id":116444,"date":"2024-02-13T08:05:21","date_gmt":"2024-02-13T13:05:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/?p=116444"},"modified":"2024-02-13T08:06:15","modified_gmt":"2024-02-13T13:06:15","slug":"analysts-see-limits-to-china-iran-russia-collaboration-with-taliban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/2024\/02\/13\/analysts-see-limits-to-china-iran-russia-collaboration-with-taliban\/","title":{"rendered":"Analysts See Limits to China, Iran, Russia Collaboration With Taliban"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"VOA \u2014 WASHINGTON \u2014\u00a0<\/span>Since the Taliban seized control in August 2021, China, Iran and Russia have been steadily courting Afghanistan\u2019s de facto government for influence. The three countries have kept their embassies open in Kabul and were among the first to hand over Afghan embassies to the Taliban at home.<\/p>\n

Last month, Moscow, Beijing and Tehran were the most high-profile participants at the Taliban\u2019s first conference on regional cooperation in Kabul.<\/p>\n

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Afghanistan\u2019s Taliban Host Multilateral Huddle To Promote Regional Cooperation<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

But what are the real prospects of China, Russia, Iran and the Taliban cooperating in the region?<\/p>\n

Analysts tell VOA that while Beijing, Moscow and Tehran may be united in a common goal to oppose the U.S. in the region, that is perhaps the only area where their interests align, analysts say.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnti-Americanism is the one idea\u201d that brings China, Iran and Russia together, said Alex Vatanka, founding director of the Iran Program at the Middle East Institute in Washington.<\/p>\n

He told VOA that Tehran, Moscow and Beijing \u201cwant to push the United States out of Eurasia and Central Asia … [but] how much can they on the operational level cooperate? That\u2019s a big question.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that \u201canti-Americanism\u201d alone cannot keep the partnership together as there \u201cis nothing ideological to bring them together.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to a newly released U.S. State Department\u2019s strategy document, China, Iran and Russia seek \u201cstrategic and economic advantage, or at a minimum, to put the U.S. at a disadvantage.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cChina, Iran and Russia have cultivated very close ties with the Taliban,\u201d said Nilofar Sakhi, a lecturer at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University, adding that they are trying to \u201chave political and economic influence in the region.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite close ties, none of the three countries has formally recognized the Taliban\u2019s government and their interests in the region all differ.<\/p>\n

Pragmatic approach<\/strong><\/p>\n

Late last month, China was the first country to formally accept the credentials of the Taliban\u2019s ambassador.<\/p>\n

Some former diplomats and analysts say the move was akin to formal recognition. Sun Yun, the director of the China Program at the Stimson Center in Washington does not agree.<\/p>\n

China still has to \u201cformally extended political recognition to the Taliban\u2019s government,\u201d Sun told VOA. Even so, compared to Western countries, China has established \u201cvery close\u201d relations with the Taliban in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

\u201cChina adopts a pragmatic approach in Afghanistan,\u201d said Sun, adding that early on Beijing realized that the U.S.-backed former Afghan government did not have \u201cthe popular support to continue\u201d governing Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

Beijing had been cultivating ties with the Taliban for years before the Taliban\u2019s takeover of Kabul.<\/p>\n

Sun said that \u201cwhat has happened in the past two and a half years substantiated that assessment that the Taliban regime is not going anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added that security, economic and political factors are \u201call part of a broader consideration that comes to the foundation of China\u2019s policy toward Afghanistan.\u201d<\/p>\n

For China, one key concern is about any breach of militancy from Afghanistan into its western region of Xinjiang.<\/p>\n

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Security Remains at Top of China’s Afghanistan Policy<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Beijing also has economic interests in Afghanistan, including extending the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a flagship of the Belt and Road Initiative, to Afghanistan and investing in minerals in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

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Taliban Attendance at Beijing Forum Signals China\u2019s Policy of Engagement<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

China has also been vocal in criticizing the U.S. and NATO for freezing Afghanistan\u2019s assets and \u201cleaving the Afghan people in a serious humanitarian crisis\u201d in the country.<\/p>\n

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China Renews Call for US to ‘Unconditionally’ Release Afghanistan Assets and Lift ‘Unilateral’ Sanctions<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Complicated past<\/strong><\/p>\n

Though Iran has not formally recognized the Taliban, it handed over the Afghan embassy in Tehran to the Taliban in February 2023.<\/p>\n

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Iran Hands Over Afghan Embassy in Tehran to Taliban<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The Middle East Institute\u2019s Vatanka said that the Iranian regime has not recognized the Taliban because of some bilateral issues, including border security and water distribution.<\/p>\n

Last year, tensions between Iran and the Taliban over the Helmand River\u2019s flow of water escalated to a deadly clash, which killed two Iranian security guards and one Taliban border guard.<\/p>\n

Iran and the Taliban have had complicated relations in the past.<\/p>\n

During the civil war in Afghanistan in the 1990s, Iran was supporting the forces fighting against the Taliban, particularly after the Taliban killed nine Iranian diplomats in the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif in 1998.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is still too early for the Iranians to forget what the Taliban was\u201d when it was in power in the 1990s, said Vatanka.<\/p>\n

Full of contradiction<\/strong><\/p>\n

Like Iran, Russia was another country that supported forces fighting the Taliban during the civil war in the 1990s.<\/p>\n

Ghaus Janbaz, a former Afghan diplomat to Moscow, told VOA that Moscow\u2019s policy toward Afghanistan has been \u201cfull of contradictions\u201d in recent years.<\/p>\n

Janbaz added that Russia is politically supporting the Taliban, but at the same time, its \u201cmilitary and security officials criticize the Taliban and cite an uptick in terrorist activities in Afghanistan.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said that before the Taliban\u2019s takeover, Moscow had diplomatic relations with the former Afghan government, but it also supported \u201cthe Taliban at all the levels.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is similar now. Russia has ties with the Taliban, but an anti-Taliban leader was invited to Moscow,\u201d Janbaz said. \u201cThey say it was not an invitation by the government, but nothing happens without the approval of the government in Russia.\u201d<\/p>\n

An Afghan anti-Taliban leader, Ahmad Masoud, participated in a conference on Afghanistan in Russia in November 2023.<\/p>\n

Janbaz says that despite Moscow\u2019s close ties with the Taliban, \u201cI do not think that in the near future, Moscow will extend recognition to the Taliban\u2019s regime.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said that similar to China and Iran, Russia\u2019s policy toward the Taliban is driven by regional geopolitics.<\/p>\n

\u201cTactically they might have an alliance against the West, but there are strategic differences\u201d between these countries, Janbaz said.<\/p>\n

This story originated in VOA’s Afghan Service.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

VOA \u2014 WASHINGTON \u2014\u00a0Since the Taliban seized control in August 2021, China, Iran and Russia have been steadily courting Afghanistan\u2019s de facto government for influence. The three countries have kept their embassies open in Kabul and were among the first to hand over Afghan embassies to the Taliban at home. Last month, Moscow, Beijing and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":116445,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-116444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-recposts"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.2","language":"en","enabled_languages":["fa","en"],"languages":{"fa":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"en":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116444"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116444\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":116448,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116444\/revisions\/116448"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}