China shows Afghanistan ambitions at multinational meetings

The Associated Press ^ | March 30, 2022

[Oldeconomybuyer]

BEIJING (AP) — China’s ambitions to have a major hand in Afghanistan’s stability and development under the Taliban, while boosting its own stature, will be on display at a pair of multinational meetings it is hosting starting Wednesday.

The talks offer a rare opportunity for Russia and the U.S. to come together over the knotty issue of Afghanistan despite their deep differences over the Ukraine conflict.

Special envoys for Afghanistan from China, the United States and Russia, a group known as the the “Extended Troika,” will convene separately from the foreign ministers of China, Russia, Pakistan, Iran, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

“China, the U.S., Russia and Pakistan are all countries with significant influence on the Afghan issue,” ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said of the Troika meeting. The talks will “echo positively with the third meeting of foreign ministers of the Afghan neighboring countries, to further cement the consensus of all parties … to help Afghanistan achieve peace, stability and development at an early date.”

Special Representative for Afghanistan Tom West will represent the U.S. at the Extended Troika talks, the State Department said. Pakistan will also attend and China is believed to have also invited Taliban representatives, the spokesperson said on routine condition of anonymity.

[Paladin2]

Islam demands development?

Crooked mullahs, perhaps.

[Paladin2]

“Thomas West serves as the State Department’s Special Representative and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Afghanistan. In prior roles in government, he served as Special Advisor to the Vice President for South Asia and Director for Afghanistan and Pakistan at the National Security Council from 2012-2015. From 2011-2012, Tom was the State Department’s senior diplomat in Kunar Province, Afghanistan, where he embedded with U.S. military colleagues and managed the civilian staff of a Provincial Reconstruction Team. From 2008-10, Tom served as Special Assistant for South and Central Asia to the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, focusing on growing the U.S.-India strategic partnership. Early in his career, Tom was a political officer at U.S. Embassy Islamabad and Pakistan desk officer in Washington. Before rejoining government in January 2021, Tom was a Vice President at The Cohen Group, a global strategic advisory firm, and a non-resident scholar at The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. A native of State College, Pennsylvania, Tom earned an M.A. in International Relations from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and a B.A. in International Studies from Johns Hopkins University.”