They say one is known by the company they keep. In that case, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi doesn’t show up well, posing for a photograph with a group of Taliban leaders in Tianjin. This comes at a time when the United Nations is warning of unprecedented civilian casualties, deliberate destruction of schools and clinics, and large-scale looting, indicating that the Taliban claim of a “bloodless” takeover of the territory is very far from the truth.
But recall that picture of President Ronald Reagan meeting with Jalaluddin Haqqani — father of the present Pakistani prop Sirajuddin Haqqani — and hailing him and his men as “freedom fighters” during the Soviet-Afghan war. That was 1983. Fast forward a few decades, and another picture could emerge, this time of the US lauding Taliban leaders for their push to escape from Chinese hands. That’s Afghanistan, where the wheel usually turns in predictable ways. But Beijing is not Washington. Its strategy could be very different.