Why did the U.S. have to withdraw from Afghanistan? Are China’s ambitions for the region growing? How will these geopolitical events impact India? In a new book, The Comrades and the Mullahs: China, Afghanistan and the New Asian Geopolitics , two journalists of The Hindu tell us the story of the little-understood China-Afghanistan relationship and what the American withdrawal means for China’s regional ambitions. An edited excerpt:
The photographs captured the absurdity of moment. On the right stood Wang Yi, China’s suave foreign minister, dressed as he usually is in a sharp suit. On the left was Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, head of the Taliban’s political office in Doha and one of the group’s founders.
The date was July 28, 2021. The location was Tianjin, the booming Chinese port city an hour from Beijing. In the photo, both Wang and Baradar have their arms outstretched, palms open and facing downward, as if to say, ‘How did we get here?’
