Shrouq Tariq
Footages circulating on the internet show chaos and violence at the Kabul airport with 7 deaths reported, US officials said, as Afghans desperately try to leave the country in the wake of the Taliban’s rapid takeover. US is facilitating the evacuation of the American and other allied civilians and diplomatic staff, including some Afghans.
But the question is that if the foreign embassies of other countries are being closed why Russia and China keeping their embassies open are and are retaining their staff?
Russia has announced that it will only partially evacuate embassy staff in Kabul, and its ambassador, Dmitry Zhirnov, plans to meet Taliban leaders (Aug. 17).According to Russian Foreign Ministry official and Presidential envoy to Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov, the Taliban has secured the Russian compound.
“We will carefully see how responsibly they govern the country in the near future,” Kabulov told the Ekho Moskvy radio station. “And based on the results, the Russian leadership will draw the necessary conclusions.”
As for China, they Also have not announced any plans to evacuate embassy staff from Kabul—though earlier in the year it did urge citizens to leave—but has already signaled its willingness to recognize the Taliban government. The idea of “non-interference” is a key plank of Chinese foreign policy; officially it is treating the Taliban takeover as a domestic development. Even though China is deeply concerned about instability in Afghanistan as it has invested billions of dollars in a port and other infrastructure in neighboring Pakistan under its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) project. On Monday (Aug. 16), a China Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Beijing hopes the Taliban will honor past promises to help establish an “open, inclusive” government.
Shrouq Tariq is the Research Analyst and writer at Matrix Media. Her work has been published in number of national and international newspapers . She’s also a member of the Matrix Media editorial board. She is currently completing her MPhil in Defense and Strategic Studies from Quaid-i-Azam university.
