#1 Abdul Ghani Baradar was arrested twice and released by Pakistain (the last release was in 2013) for terrorism.
Baradar helped Mullah Omar as his second, in founding the Taliban movement in Afghanistan in 1994. He served in several key positions when the Taliban ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001. He fled to Pakistan after the US invasion in 2001 and was arrested in 2010 in an operation that was used to show Pak's cooperation against terror to get more dough out of the IMF.
He totally re-invented himself through effective PR through the CIA under Obama who once called Baradar's appointment "a startling change ... that bodes very well for peace". Today he is a 'revered' figure in Taliban circles, and Pak military officers stand up when his name's mentioned. When the US finally leaves Af, they will be leaving it all to him. When China acquires land in Af to consolidate their control on their precious BRI, this is the man they must negotiate with. Also, they've begun combing for Lithium mines already according to some sources.
In May 2017, Afghan officials attended the massive Belt and Road Forum in China, and in October Afghanistan joined the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, which funds BRI projects. This was just a formality however, insurance in case the taliban didn't win Af.
Interestingly, China's negotiations with the Taliban had begun way earlier. In the 1990s China maintained good relations with the then Taliban government in order to prevent Afghanistan from becoming a haven for ETIM(East Turkistan Islamic Movement) militants. It was thought that they feared the chaos from Af would spill over into their Xinjiang hovels and Pakistain, endangering China's prospects of controlling S.E. Asia.
Back in 2001, we discovered Huawei Inc. (Yupp!) supplying surveillance and communications equipment to the Taliban from Bangalore, India. Indian MI suggested the requisite Home departments to arrest 178 chinese Huawei engineers working in coordination with, aiding and servicing the Afghan terror group. With inputs from the US intelligence, a case was made and foolishly (Indian Standard Protocol) the intel was sent back to China seeking a reply. Of course they were 'outraged'. The Shenzen corporation was under heavy surveillance by America so supplied them from out of India. Bangalore, which boasts more than 40 Salafi mosques is also considered the IT hub of India, also is fast becoming the entry point of legal islamism in India.
Anyway, the words of a chinese foreign minister from last year best describe the intent on China in it's own two-faced way.
"Who will protect the Afghan government and provide financial support to it after the US troops’ pullout? The most important thing is the Afghan people’s interests, but the Americans ignore them and want to protect their own."
Let's see what happens. The Taliban leaders have said the group could accept China as a guarantor if they reach a peace deal with the United States. |
...mindless ferocity in a turban...