It looks like Trump has not forgotten the simple fact that Afghanistan has always been crucial to fight against Islamist Terrorists.
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NEW DELHI: As HR McMaster, US national security adviser, arrives in Kabul on the first leg of his visit to the region, Russia is maintaining its activist role, hosting the third meeting of regional countries on Daesh and Taliban in Moscow on Friday.
The US has refused to attend the meeting, for which it has been invited for the first time. The sharpened geo-political moves have raised the spectre in India that Afghanistan is the new theater for US-Russia rivalry and, if left unchecked, could become the next Syria on India's doorstep.
India will be at the meeting, represented by joint secretary of the MEA, Deepak Mittal. India and Afghanistan will find themselves in a lonely corner, and the main participants, China, Iran, Pakistan and Russia, are openly looking for a "peace deal" in Afghanistan, which would accommodate Taliban in some form.
Russia, which has inserted itself in the Afghanistan situation, much like it did in Syria, ostensibly wants to keep Daesh/ Islamic State out of Afghanistan, and blames the US for not doing enough against IS.
But the US believes the real reason is to use the Taliban to keep the US out of Afghanistan. Russia regards Afghanistan as being within its sphere of influence, and therefore, this third meeting will see the presence of all the Central Asian states - it's a signal to China, too, that despite China being a growing power, the south-central Asian region will see Russia as the dominant power.
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Afghanistan may be a new theatre of US-Russia rivalry - Times of India
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NEW DELHI: As HR McMaster, US national security adviser, arrives in Kabul on the first leg of his visit to the region, Russia is maintaining its activist role, hosting the third meeting of regional countries on Daesh and Taliban in Moscow on Friday.
The US has refused to attend the meeting, for which it has been invited for the first time. The sharpened geo-political moves have raised the spectre in India that Afghanistan is the new theater for US-Russia rivalry and, if left unchecked, could become the next Syria on India's doorstep.
India will be at the meeting, represented by joint secretary of the MEA, Deepak Mittal. India and Afghanistan will find themselves in a lonely corner, and the main participants, China, Iran, Pakistan and Russia, are openly looking for a "peace deal" in Afghanistan, which would accommodate Taliban in some form.
Russia, which has inserted itself in the Afghanistan situation, much like it did in Syria, ostensibly wants to keep Daesh/ Islamic State out of Afghanistan, and blames the US for not doing enough against IS.
But the US believes the real reason is to use the Taliban to keep the US out of Afghanistan. Russia regards Afghanistan as being within its sphere of influence, and therefore, this third meeting will see the presence of all the Central Asian states - it's a signal to China, too, that despite China being a growing power, the south-central Asian region will see Russia as the dominant power.
...
Afghanistan may be a new theatre of US-Russia rivalry - Times of India