As I see itWhy Biden’s Afghan debacle 20 years after 9/11 gives China cause for worry

Name: Taliban fighters show off captured military hardware in the Afghan city of Kandahar
Uploaded: 2021-09-14T11:44:03.000Z
Duration: 52 s
Description: Taliban fighters show off captured military hardware in the Afghan city of Kandahar

Chaotic US withdrawal from Kabul has been greeted with great rejoicing by China’s state media and net users

However, this is no post-9/11 era when the US was distracted by its war on terror. Now, it is free to focus on its current main adversary – China

3-MIN READ3-MIN

The Tribute In Light to 9/11 victims, as seen from Lower Manhattan in New York City. Photo: AFP

Shi Jiangtao

Published: 7:44pm, 14 Sep 2021Updated: 10:34pm, 14 Sep 2021

Nearly 20 years after America invaded Afghanistan in the wake of the September 11 terror attacks and ousted the Taliban, US troops have completed their humiliating withdrawal and the militant group is back in power.

The historical irony is not lost on Beijing.

China’s state-controlled media and social media websites have gone into overdrive, rejoicing at the defeat of the US, the shattered image of America’s fabled invincibility and the failure of yet another of its democracy-building exercises.

00:52

Taliban fighters show off captured military hardware in the Afghan city of Kandahar

“The fall of Kabul marks the crumbling of the US international image and credibility … and another turning point in the decline of the American hegemon,” state news agency Xinhua asserted in a commentary last month.

Sensing a strategic opening, some Chinese observers have suggested that Beijing should step into the void left by Washington, and so bolster China’s geopolitical influence as well as create additional leverage in countering US President Joe Biden’s Beijing-focused foreign policy.

01:19

US Vice-President Kamala Harris: China continues to ‘coerce’ and ‘intimidate’ in South China Sea

While it is true that the Afghan debacle has led to the biggest crisis of Biden’s presidency and may cast a long shadow over America’s reliability, especially among those caught up in the US-China rivalry, hopes for another post-9/11 moment are largely misplaced.

Twenty years ago, the tragedy of 9/11 changed the course of history and became a turning point in bilateral ties, when US president George W. Bush was forced to put aside his hardline anti-China agenda in exchange for Beijing’s support in America’s war on terror.