The Taliban’s struggle to provide security after the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 has created a power vacuum that China is actively working to utilize. What the U.S. does to counter this effort will be crucial for regional stability moving forward.
The two countries are reportedly concluding a new partnership agreement, but cooperation between Tehran and Beijing will face obstacles.
The announcement that the United States will withdraw its remaining troops from Syria has clear implications for many players with interests at stake in the ongoing civil war. Attention has focused on what the U.S. withdrawal will mean for the Kurds, and whether Turkey will be less restrained, or how Iran and Russia might try to project influence farther east in rebel-held territories retaken from the Islamic State. Noticeably absent from these analyses has been how the withdrawal would affect another great power with vested interests in the Middle East—China.
