Afghan government collapse.

[urutzizu]

https://t24.com.tr/haber/taliban-dan-kacan-afganistan-vatandaslari-turkiye-ye-geliyor-her-gun-1000-kisi-giris-yapiyor,964942

The exodus has begun. Acc to Turkish media more than 1000 Afghans per day fleeing from the Taliban (teachers, bureaucrats, hazaras etc.) are now arriving in Turkey. Once again, US makes unilateral and domestic politically motivated decisions, their "allies" have to deal with the consequences. When will we get fed up?

A way to ease this very effectively would be for the Biden admin to scrap the Iran sanctions, but again that would take basic consultation and consideration of the interests of aligned countries. And that is something that, flowery rhetoric aside, in practical terms Biden is not much better than Trump on.

[urutzizu]

China officially recognizes the Taliban: Hua Chunying MFA spokeswoman says at a press conference that "We respect the Choice of the Afghan people"

Embassy is staying, being treated not as a regime collapse but just a regular change of Government.

https://news.cgtn.com/news/2021-08-16/China-says-respects-Afghan-people-s-choice-amid-changing-situation--12LYPEBkpK8/index.html

There have been many comments in the west that China has a great interest in Afghanistan, that China is likely to fill the power vacuum left by the west, wants to invest in infrastructure there etc., but that is actually...well...not really the case.

There are some contracts for resource extraction (mostly stalled/abandoned, most notably Mes Aynak) and small scale infrastructure, but there aren't really substantial investments nor is there much of an interest in Afghanistan at all actually, besides for having a propaganda field day re the US for Saigon II. It not really remotely comparable to Iran or Pakistan for instance. China will retain cordial relations with the Taliban (like it did with the previous Regime) to ensure stability and avoid the reemergence of terrorism, but the Idea that there is really substantial "Interest" in Afghanistan is largely overblown, for better or for worse.