The Taliban woo China as ISIS threat grows

While turning a blind eye to the
starving
Afghan population, on Jan. 4, a
Taliban
senior leader professed the group has an ”
obligation
” to protect
Chinese
nationals looking to invest in the country’s mineral and
oil
wealth.

The comment comes on the heels of a December attack that targeted Chinese investors who frequent Kabul’s Longan Hotel. The Islamic State – Khorasan Province, ISIS-K, claimed responsibility for the assault. But if the attack fed Chinese leaders’ concerns about the danger posed by
terror groups
operating inside Afghanistan, those anxieties were soon forgotten.

On Jan. 5, the Taliban announced it had killed eight ISIS-K members, including those responsible for the hotel attack. The following day, China’s Xinjiang Central Asia Petroleum and Gas signed a significant contract to
drill
oil in northern Afghanistan’s Amu Darya basin. The Chinese ambassador to Afghanistan called the contract “an important project between China and Afghanistan.”

China’s investment comes at a time of tumult in Afghanistan. During the final week of December, the Taliban banned women from working with nongovernmental organizations that operate inside the country. In response, around 180 NGOs suspended Afghanistan operations in acknowledgment of the devastation the restriction will wreak on the population. Chinese investors may be uniquely nonplussed by the Taliban’s callous disregard for millions of Afghan lives, but they should be more circumspect about the terror organizations that continue to operate and grow inside Afghanistan.

According to an Afghan source who has been working with American volunteers in Afghanistan, ISIS-K has increased recruiting efforts. In December, two Afghan commandos who were once supported by American volunteers decided to join ISIS-K’s ranks. Trained by U.S. forces, both men had spent the previous 16 months living in hiding to avoid being identified through U.S. biometric equipment left in the possession of the Taliban or by the Taliban fighters who man checkpoints that thread Afghanistan’s major cities. After over a year of waiting on assistance that was unlikely to arrive, the men needed cash. ISIS-K offered a salary of $700 per month, with three months’ salary paid in advance. The terror group also provided a renewed chance to fight the Taliban.

The Chinese are not the only country neglecting evidence that terror groups are flourishing under Taliban rule. As of last week, the Defense Department retired the National Defense Service Medal as a signifier, per Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, that the United States is “no longer conducting large-scale combat operations … as a result of the [9/11] terrorist attacks.” Meanwhile, the U.S. government acknowledges that the threat of terrorism has not retreated. On Nov. 30, the U.S. added three members of al Qaeda and one member of Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan to its list of specially designated global terrorists.

The conditions for another heinous attack on the West remain present. Indeed, as another unfortunate result of our failed withdrawal from Afghanistan, former members of the Afghan military are now poised to use the tradecraft they learned from the U.S. to operate against it. Leaders around the world would do well to acknowledge the threats posed to their people as a result of the Taliban’s inability, or lack of desire, to roust terrorists from Afghanistan.

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Beth Bailey (@BWBailey85) is a freelance writer from the Detroit area and the co-founder of The Afghanistan Project, a forthcoming podcast delving into the tragedy wrought in the wake of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.