By Saphora Smith and Amin Hossein Khodadadi - NBC News
In 2001, the United States invaded Afghanistan to persecute Al Qaeda, an organization that it considered its greatest enemy: And then it stayed in that country.
Twenty years after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the United States, and amid the chaotic withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan,
President Joe Biden has declared the end of a time of great military interventionism.
At all times, the rivals and adversaries of the United States have been pending of that decision.
"He told me he was going to return," says the mother of a fallen soldier in Afghanistan.
Sept.
1, 202105: 23
[America's Mistakes in Afghanistan: A Report Details 20 Years of Mistakes and Failed Policies]
Russia, China and Iran see recent events as a clear demonstration that US international influence - which seemed impregnable after 9/11 when it garnered international support and sympathy almost universally - is waning.
And, as the US withdrawal leaves a void in the region, they
establish relations with the new rulers of Afghanistan.
The fact that Russia, China and Iran seek a rapprochement with Afghanistan should come as no surprise, says Barnett Rubin, a former senior adviser to the special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan at the State Department.
“They watched us the whole time.
This is just one more incident in the decline of the power of the United States,
”he said of the three countries.
What went wrong in the battle between the US and Afghanistan?
We asked a congressman
Aug. 31, 202104: 52
[Images of bloody Afghans contradict Taliban promises of change]
The scenes of chaos and anguish at the Kabul airport, when thousands of desperate Afghans tried to board the planes before the end of the military withdrawal on August 31, were a great public relations opportunity for the governments of those countries.
"The result is zero, if not negative," Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week of Washington's intervention in Afghanistan.
An American soldier passed a group of children on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border in Spin Boldak, Afghanistan.
The cemetery of empires
Afghanistan is surrounded by China to the east and Iran to the west.
And Russia looms over the north.
The proximity to Russia, China and Iran makes those countries careful to focus on Afghanistan because they do not want to take responsibility for a country that has been devastated by more than 40 years of war.
The Soviet Union invaded and occupied Afghanistan for 10 years, and its withdrawal was also seen as an international humiliation
and a sign of the impending disintegration that led to the fall of communism.
How much did the war in Afghanistan cost?
Here an estimate
Aug. 31, 202100: 49
[The United States Commemorates 20 Years Since the 9/11 Attacks]
China, which shares a short swath of its territory with Afghanistan, is concerned that extremism will seep into the western Xinjiang region, where the government has detained hundreds of thousands of Uighurs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities.
However, Beijing also sees the current situation as
an opportunity to reactivate oil, gas and mining projects
that could be very lucrative in Afghanistan, but which have been delayed by security issues and other problems. On Wednesday, China said it will provide $ 31 million in emergency aid, including food and 3 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, and also called on the Taliban to end their relations with terrorist groups.
Iran, which was on the verge of entering a war with the Taliban in 1998 over the assassination of 10 Iranian diplomats, has improved its relations with the group and is now one of Afghanistan's largest trading partners.
But
Iran's Shiite leaders worry that the Sunni Taliban may allow the persecution of the Hazaras and other Shiite minorities.
They are also concerned about the flood of Afghan refugees they have received, as they grapple with their worst coronavirus outbreak.
Soviet soldiers during the withdrawal from Kabul, Afghanistan, in May 1988. Getty Images
["Worse than their animals." These are the prohibitions and mistreatment of women imposed by the Taliban in Afghanistan]
For more than a century, various nations have intervened in Afghan affairs, which has turned the country into a war scene with great human and material losses, in addition to earning the name of being the "graveyard of empires."
Now, Russia, China and Iran are laying the foundations to start relations with the new rulers of the country.
In July, representatives of the Taliban traveled to Russia and China to offer security guarantees and receive support from those governments internationally.
Tehran has been the scene of talks between the Taliban and representatives of the previous Afghan government.
All three countries have chosen to keep their diplomatic missions in Kabul, although other nations closed embassies and evacuated personnel.
It is not yet known whether they will officially recognize the new Taliban government.
The image of this military plane taking off from Afghanistan symbolizes the end of a 20-year war
Aug. 31, 202101: 56
[This Latino 'marine' was enlisted by his mother and died in Kabul. "I am proud," she says]
Shelter from terrorism
Afghanistan remains a dangerous stronghold of terrorism and, beyond the Taliban, a group associated with the Islamic State and Al Qaeda continue to have a presence in the country.
"Security in Afghanistan preserves security in Iran and
insecurity in Afghanistan influences insecurity in Iran,
" said Abolfazl Amouei, spokesman for the Iranian parliamentary committee on national security and foreign policy.
"Iran has established contacts with the Taliban to keep its borders safe," Amouei said, in an interview before the Taliban took office.
The American soldiers who died in the Kabul attack were in their 20s.
Aug. 30, 202102: 39
["I'm alone, I don't have anyone." Afghan refugees arrive in a purgatory between hell and uncertainty]
Since August 15, when they took Kabul, the Taliban have focused on consolidating control over Afghanistan, but it is not known whether they will be able to fulfill their promises to
prevent Afghan territory from being used to threaten the security of other countries.
On August 26, the Islamic State group Khorasan carried out a suicide bombing outside the Kabul airport that killed more than 100 people, including 13 US servicemen, a fact that demonstrates the limits of the Taliban's control in the country.
Twenty years after the terrorist attacks of September 11, it is not only the United States that has a vested interest in the next decisions of the Taliban.
As the US government moves out of that region, neighboring powers will have a larger role to play in Afghanistan's future.
