‘Superpower in Its Downfall’: China Celebrates Anniversary of Biden Afghanistan Disaster

Taliban fighters stand guard at an entrance gate of the Sardar Mohammad Dawood Khan milita
Wakil Kohsar/AFP via Getty Images, Drew Angerer/Getty Images

China’s state-run Global Times took a victory lap on Monday, the one-year anniversary of President Joe Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, hailing the debacle as the death of American “hegemony” and a humiliation the United States will never overcome.

One editorial from the Global Times excitedly claimed the “international community” was permanently turned off by “the U.S.’ irresponsible hasty withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan,” leaving the unfortunate residents of that country to suffer “endless trauma” caused by the botched American occupation.

The Global Times and its stable of “Chinese experts” argued the “Kabul moment” showed that America’s playbook of “democratic transformation” will never work anywhere, the American “strategy of hegemony” is a bust, and while Biden might have thought he was escaping from a quagmire, he instead made the United States perpetually responsible for the misery of the Afghan people.

The Chinese paper trotted out the corrupt former president of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai to complain about the U.S. government’s refusal to unfreeze $7 billion in Afghan foreign exchange reserves.

A Marine with Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force-Crisis Response-Central Command (SPMAGTF-CR-CC) lifts an evacuee during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul, Afghanistan, Aug. 26. U.S. service members are assisting the Department of State with an orderly drawdown of designated personnel in Afghanistan. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Samuel Ruiz).

A Marine with Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force-Crisis Response-Central Command (SPMAGTF-CR-CC) lifts an evacuee during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul, Afghanistan.  (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Samuel Ruiz).

Of course, the funds are frozen because the United States does not want the failed terrorist government of the Taliban to steal the money – discussions about partially releasing the funds were reportedly scuttled after the Taliban was caught harboring the head of al-Qaeda in a Kabul safe house – but Karzai pretended it was somehow being kept from the gentle embrace of the deserving “Afghan people.”

“How ironic to see the U.S. taking money from Afghanistan while the Afghan people are in a humanitarian emergency. It’s not only rubbing salt in the bleeding wounds of Afghanistan, but also exposing the true image of the U.S.,” hooted Afghanistan studies director Zhu Yongbiao of Lanzhou University, going along with Karzai’s pretense.

The Global Times laid out China’s plans to blame the United States for everything bad that happens in Afghanistan, including obvious malfeasance by the Taliban regime.

The Taliban wrecked the Afghan economy, barred women from jobs and education, and brought an already-impoverished populace to the brink of starvation, but that’s all America’s fault, according to “Chinese experts.”

“After the radical change in Afghanistan, neighboring countries, including China, have been exploring cooperation that includes a path to peaceful reconciliation and national reconstruction, in stark contrast to the U.S., which only left a mess behind in the ravaged country,” the Global Times wrote. 

U.S soldiers stand guard along a perimeter at the international airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, Aug. 16, 2021. On Monday, the U.S. military and officials focus was on Kabul’s airport, where thousands of Afghans trapped by the sudden Taliban takeover rushed the tarmac and clung to U.S. military planes deployed to fly out staffers of the U.S. Embassy, which shut down Sunday, and others. (AP Photo/Shekib Rahmani)

U.S soldiers stand guard along a crowded perimeter at the international airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, Aug. 16, 2021.  (AP Photo/Shekib Rahmani)

Translation: China wants to pillage Afghanistan’s mineral resources, and it does not care which murderous extremists get rich along the way as long as they do not cross the Chinese border.

Another Global Times harangue on Monday instructed the U.S. to think long and hard about Biden’s “Kabul moment” of failure before challenging China or its ally Russia on the world stage:

In Ukraine, the US as the instigator of the Russia-Ukraine conflict keeps fanning the flames by providing weapons to Ukraine in a bid to deplete the strength of Russia, in disregard of the development of Ukraine and the wellbeing of the Ukrainian people. Even the interests of US’ European allies were sacrificed by the US as a stepping stone to consolidate its global hegemony.

With no end in sight of the Ukraine crisis, the US is trying to ignite another clash in Asia. After US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan island on August 2, a delegation of five US lawmakers arrived on the island of Taiwan on Sunday. By provoking a conflict in the Taiwan Straits, the US is hoping to rally its resources in Asia, contain China’s development, and undermine security in Asia.

The Global Times advised Americans to regard the “Kabul moment” as proof they are a “superpower in its downfall,” clinging desperately to its fading position by accusing plucky up-and-coming powers like China and Russia of human rights abuses. This strategy supposedly frightens developing nations out of allying with Beijing and Moscow because they don’t live up to phony Western “values” of freedom and democracy.

“The U.S. has passed its peak, with its withdrawal from Afghanistan marking the beginning of the decline of U.S. strength. The impetuous moves of the U.S. over Ukraine and Taiwan question prove that the U.S. has fewer and fewer political options,” sneered Beijing International Studies University associate professor Xu Liang.

“The U.S. only wants other countries to coordinate with its national interests to contain China and Russia, which, after all, is nothing but a fantasy,” Xu added.

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