China could prove ultimate winner in Afghanistan
Source: The Associated Press
KABUL (AP) -- China, long a bystander to the conflict in Afghanistan, is stepping up its involvement as U.S.-led forces prepare to withdraw, attracted by the country's vast mineral resources but concerned that any post-2014 chaos could embolden Islamist insurgents in its own territory.
Cheered on by the U.S. and other Western governments, which see Asia's giant as a potentially stabilizing force, China could prove the ultimate winner in Afghanistan - having shed no blood and not much aid.
Security - or the lack of it - remains the key challenge: Chinese enterprises have already bagged three multibillion dollar investment projects, but they won't be able to go forward unless conditions get safer. While the Chinese do not appear ready to rush into any vacuum left by the withdrawal of foreign troops, a definite shift toward a more hands-on approach to Afghanistan is under way.
Beijing signed a strategic partnership last summer with the war-torn country. This was followed in September with a trip to Kabul by its top security official, the first by a leading Chinese government figure in 46 years, and the announcement that China would train 300 Afghan police officers. China is also showing signs of willingness to help negotiate a peace agreement as NATO prepares to pull out in two years.
Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_CHINAS_REACH_AFGHANISTAN?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-01-26-13-15-20
Is anyone surprised by this?
I didn't think so.
WCGreen
(45,558 posts)They will get sucked in and go the same way as the Russians, the Britsih, The Ancient Greeks, the Persians, the Americans, the Mongrols, etc etc etc....
mr_hat
(3,410 posts)Ian Iam
(386 posts)A mere jest, mate, but I seriously doubt the Chinese will be sending troops. Security guards? Yes. But not military troops. My humble opinion, sir.
dipsydoodle
(42,239 posts)There is even a land route between the two when the pass is open.
WCGreen
(45,558 posts)That's a different story.
Joey Liberal
(5,526 posts)We should have been out of Afghanistan long ago. Let the Chinese have it.
onwardsand upwards
(276 posts)DJ13
(23,671 posts)They let both the USSR and the US grind themselves to pieces there, then those old Communists walk in and make business deals, thus essentially buying the peace that bullets and bombs couldnt achieve.
If nothing else the Chinese are both smart, and patient.
A combination we lost a long time ago.
mainer
(12,018 posts)Which makes them a whole lot smarter.
triplepoint
(431 posts)Last edited Sat Jan 26, 2013, 08:53 PM - Edit history (1)
Just like they were in Iraq for Big Oil. So, what else isn't new? General Smedley Butler would not be surprised at all....AT ALL!
It's a Racket
"War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives."
"I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National city Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 19021912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested.""
--Major General Smedley Butler, USMC
Recipient of 2 Congressional Medals of Honor
onwardsand upwards
(276 posts)It's impressive how General Butler's comments are as pertinent today as they were 80 years ago.
Someone should make a movie about this guy ...
daleo
(21,317 posts)China, come on down!
Brigid
(17,621 posts)That Afghanistan is not called the graveyard of empires for nothing.