What is Khalilzad doing with the US delegation in Kabul?
By Abdool Naser Noorzad, Security and Geopolitical Researcher, especially for Sangar
A delegation of Americans, including intelligence officers and diplomats, arrived in Kabul under the leadership of Zalmay Khalilzad and held hours-long talks with Amir Khan Muttaqi, the Taliban Foreign Minister, on a range of complex intelligence issues. While the details of these talks are not yet precise, they cannot be interpreted separately from security and intelligence issues.
This meeting is notable for one interesting reason: it is the first time the media has covered it. Past US intelligence engagement with the group was mediated by Pakistan, Qatar, and the UAE. Certainly, various issues were discussed at this meeting, and this article will analyze the possible details.
It is noteworthy that the US praises and admires the Taliban in their war on drugs, and this is worthy of reflection. How did the group that is the founder and organizer of drug cultivation and trafficking in the region and around the world succeed in the war on drugs and earn the admiration of the United States? Meanwhile, since the Taliban uses the drug trade to finance part of its governing costs, there is a contradiction between this American display of admiration and the real nature of the issue.
However, the Taliban, which is considered a key player in the regional destabilization project, has so far achieved some success in managing this dangerous security game. The attack on the concert hall in Russia, the terrorist attacks in Iran, the disruption of China's plans in Pakistan by increasing terrorist attacks and supporting terrorist groups in that country, creating safe havens for these groups, strengthening Al-Qaeda, and creating a base for it, strengthening the ISIS-Khorasan group, creating a platform for other terrorist groups in Afghanistan, covertly creating a platform for unrest in China, Russia and Iran, the disruption of China's plans in Central Asia, drug smuggling and arming terrorism at the regional level by distributing the remaining American weapons and equipment to them can be seen as the successes of the Taliban in implementing this strategy of regional destabilization. In this regard, the Taliban is a valuable pet for the United States, and it is believed that such mysterious and sudden trips are aimed at making the United States better control the rules of the game.
At the same time, since Trump has repeatedly criticized the abandonment of the Bagram military base and has made its reoccupation and restoration of control a priority in the competition with China in the region, preserving the Taliban regime and using its destructive potential to destabilize the region is a priority on the U.S. security agenda.
Therefore, the visit of a U.S. diplomatic and intelligence delegation to Afghanistan and serious talks with this group is an attempt to take control of the Bagram base, warn of the proximity to the region, and convey a message about the future of the region that the Taliban cannot trust, and this group must foresee the future of this relationship, were among the issues discussed in these talks. On the other hand, since the Taliban have adopted a policy of increasing repression inside Afghanistan as a state policy and have laid the necessary foundation for the growth and expansion of terrorist centers, they should be rewarded by the United States.
In this regard, the continued conditional U.S. assistance to this group to preserve the Taliban regime can be seen as part of a controversial vision of undermining regional security by the United States. Because of the current Taliban policies, such as hostility to science and knowledge, and the Talibanization of Afghanistan, there is no hope of freeing the region from the evil of terrorism. Even if the regional security order in the form of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization has the will to confront the security challenges emanating from Afghanistan, it will face enormous difficulties. This demonstrates the principle of the US game. This is why the US job with its current policy of Talibanization of Afghanistan becomes much easier and more effective.
It is also believed that the meeting of the American delegation with the Taliban is intended to send a warning signal to stay away from China and to limit all areas that can strengthen China's position in Afghanistan for its economic and defense programs. In addition, another content of this meeting between the Americans and the Taliban could be a warning about the existence of differences that the region has created among the Taliban and benefits from them. The United States is deeply unhappy with the current policy and situation of the Taliban, and this country has nothing to do with the fragmented and disunited Taliban, which is an instrument of the region and does not see any benefit in this for itself.
Therefore, the Americans are trying to resolve the differences among the Taliban as soon as possible so that the region does not have additional grounds to pursue its anti-American interests through this split. Following these analyses, the American delegation arrived in Kabul to warn and advise on the issue of resolving the existing tensions between the Taliban and Pakistan, which, if continued, will disrupt all US security programs in Afghanistan. Because the problems between parts of the Taliban and Pakistan allow Iran, Russia, and China to exploit these conflicting groups to achieve their security objectives and anti-American interests, and to sabotage the American strategy of destabilizing the region.
In any case, the visit of an American delegation to Kabul, which is under the rule of the Taliban, a regime most of whose members are on the wanted list of the Security Council and Western intelligence organizations, cannot take place without a series of actions that can only be interpreted within the framework of American intelligence games. For the United States, the existence and establishment of a regime based on values, democratic, legitimate, and accountable to the international community is no longer a problem. However, the United States, in the context of a regional destabilization strategy based on the doctrine of rebalancing, helped to create, strengthen, and perpetuate this repressive regime, providing all the financial, geopolitical, and political resources of support necessary to maintain its power.
Thus, this trip cannot make sense other than to serve intelligence and security purposes, and to serve as a roadmap for regional competition with the trans-region. It is safe to say that Khalilzad, with his infamous record of betraying the gains of two decades of republican rule into the jaws of international terrorism, will not be able to send a message of goodwill that will help create a brighter future for the people of Afghanistan. The American delegation is in Kabul to call the Taliban to account for their mistakes and to warn them against getting too close to the region. The US wants to send a signal to the region that the Taliban have a master and that playing on Afghan geography will be difficult.
