The US Is Entering the Race to Kabul

The Biden administration is meeting with the Taliban to avoid giving China free rein in the area.

In the past week, the headlines emerging from Afghanistan have reported that the Taliban are banning beauty salons for women and confiscating and burning musical instruments based on the belief that music is un-Islamic and off limits. A third news item appeared out of Washington reporting an upcoming meeting between a Taliban delegation and the two U.S. representatives for Afghanistan in the Qatari capital of Doha.

In Doha, the U.S. special envoy for women, girls and human rights will hear that everything is fine within the Islamic framework defined by the ultra-conservative, tribal Taliban. Washington says that the meeting does not indicate that the U.S. position has changed, i.e., that the U.S., which practically handed the Taliban the keys to Kabul in 2021, is moving closer to recognizing the regime.

No government has done so yet. But countries are already cooperating extensively with the Pashtun obscurantists, who now control what is believed to be the world’s largest lithium reserves. Afghanistan has been part of China’s Silk Road project since May.

The fact that China, of all countries, is out front in this race will bolster the U.S. group of political realists. For them, what matters is that the Taliban keeps al-Qaida and the Islamic State group at bay in Kabul. And that is true — for now.